The Astrologers Tower Part 1

===> COH <===> 1/22/2020, 8:39:17 PM <===
<---======##=======[ Event 1079 - The Astrologer's Tower ]========##======--->
	And it's something quite peculiar
	Something shimmering and white
	Leads you here despite your destination
	Under the Milky Way tonight

	Under the Milky Way - The Church

Legends tell of an astrologer so arrogant that he felt the entire sky was naught but a lens for him to view the stars. So great was the hubris and defiance of this man that the celestial bureaucracy smote him with the power of storm and fire. Oh did the astrologer laugh at such a pathetic gesture. He did not fear the jade throne, for he drew his knowledge from something greater. Something darker.

The legend of this astrologer grew, first whispered by men in fear, and later in awe. The astrologer, they said, attacked the jade throne just as they had attacked him. And his joy only grew as the land around him died.

But then there was no more news. No more talk. Something had finally brought the astrologer low, for though the sky still blazed down on him and his abode, he no longer blazed back.

And now you're going to walk right through this astrologer's front door, assisting Thomas "MoGui" Hu in recovering an item that the astrologer had stolen to facilitate his dark workings against the jade throne!

OOC: An ongoing open-ended PRP featuring puzzles and traps, social encounters, and combat delivered via a tutorial-style dungeoncrawl. Interested in practicing/learning how to apply your powers in scene? Hit me up ahead of time for customized encounters.

Date: Wed Jan 22 17:30:00 2020 PST
Storyteller: MoGui
Genre: Sorcerer, Shen
Signups: Ying Yue and MoGui
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	Mo recaps the situation for his comrades en route out into the desert. He had arranged to pick up everyone at the train station, in a black Jeep.

	"Legends tell of an astrologer so arrogant that he felt the entire sky was naught but a lens for him to view the stars. So great was the hubris and defiance of this man that the celestial bureaucracy smote him with the power of storm and fire. Oh did the astrologer laugh at such a pathetic gesture. He did not fear the jade throne, for he drew his knowledge from something greater. Something darker."

	"The legend of this astrologer grew, first whispered by men in fear, and later in awe. The astrologer, they said, attacked the jade throne just as they had attacked him. And his joy only grew as the land around him died."

	"But then there was no more news. No more talk. Something had finally brought the astrologer low, for though the sky still blazed down on him and his abode, he no longer blazed back."

Emrick nods along, and then once Mo is finished he smiles over to Ying Yue. "Hey I'm Emrick, nice ta' meet ya." he pauses "Uh I'm sorta just handy with tools and stuff, Mo mentioned you guys were going to explore some old tower so I figured I'd come along, in case there's cool old stuff, or you need help with traps, or doors, or really anything mechanical like."

	The white-haired chinese woman remains quiet as MoGui explains some background behind what they are doing. She doesn't seem to be all the most comfortable travelling by Jeep, though it really is likely that it is any vehicle.

	She looks to Emrick as he introduces himself. "Ms. White." She replies. It is definitely a cover name, but she doesn't know these two people all that well.

	In the back of the Jeep, behind Emrick and Ying Yue, comes a muffled voice, from underneath a pile of blankets and such. "That was a real butchering of the legend." A pause. "Young people, always in a rush, no appreciation for the craft of storytelling." The voice is deep, and resonant, and speaks English with a Chinese accent.

	Mo sighs, "There was too much to explain! I had to sum up!" Which was directed, presumably, to the unseen voice behind Emrick and Ying Yue. "We're looking for a key. A jade key."

Emrick nods at Ms. White. "Nice ta' meet ya." he smiles warmly and then looks to the back of the jeep "Uhhh, whos in the back?" he asks to no one in particular

	Mo looks at Emrick via the rear view mirror. "Oh. That's the reason we're on this job. My guide to the stranger things in the middle kingdom."

	"Jade key. Sounds a little like the Jade disc. Is this the same employer that wants you to get this one as well?" Ying Yue asks, also looking towards where the voice in the back was coming from.

Emrick raises an eyebrow at that "/That's/ the reason, not /they're/ the reason? Is there a magic talking cat, or possessed skull or something back there?"

	There's a contemplative rumble in the back, beneath the blankets. Like thunder, almost. And then the scent of ozone drifts up into the air. Mo's eyebrows arch, "He didn't really mean to call you a cat, Mr. Fu. Remember, we're a long ways off from the Middle Kingdom." Then Mo's eyes flicker to Emrick, "Um. Sorta, not really. You'll see." And then? The Jeep rolls to a stop. "This is as far as we can go by Jeep, we haveta hike up a ways from here. Tech won't work soon."

	"Well that is just delightful." Ying Yue says. And from most people that would be sarcasm, though it seems rather genuine from her. She exits the jeep, not really paying much attention to the mini temper tantrum of the thing that is hidden.

Emrick starts unbuckling "Fu like a fu dog? That'd be cool." he grabs his bag "Is there some mystical reason tech doesnt work or is it just the service cuts off? If it's just service loss I'll be ok, a technomage built my stuff, so it's like better than is mundanely possible." he nods "If not I can leave it all in the jeep."

	Mo considers, "Well, it hasta do with the way the land around the site has been magicked. All I know is that the guy that went in before had all this state of the art equipment, and it wasn't working." He kills the lights. Out here in the deep desert, its dark, save for whatever light the moon and/or stars provide. Mo makes his way to the back, presumably to unload the voice.

	Ying Yue gives a glance over her shoulder at Emrick as if to say, just using a look, 'You're one of those?'. Tech is obviously not her thing. "Are we going down in to that hole again?" She asks, this time of MoGui.

	Mo had just driven Emrick and Ying Yue out into the middle of nowhere in the desert in a black Jeep. The group had only just arrived, the engine to the Jeep still warm. Mo opens the back gate of the Jeep, and reaches underneath a set of blankets, "Alright, let's get those off you. I know it's undignified, but you're the one that insists on accompanying me into the field on these jobs..."

Emrick nods "I'll leave it in the jeep then, no reason to carry it around if it's just gonna get fried, and don't wanna cause any magical issues or nothin'." he takes a moment to unpack all the tech from his bag and put it somewhere secure in the jeep, looking to Ying Yue he responds "I dunno what one of those you mean, but I'm an enchanter, I imbue things with mana and set energy currents within items so that they produce mystical effects. I just traded a techmage for better gear is all." he takes a moment to touch different items on his person, his jacket, shoes, jewelry etc. Looking over to Mo "I'm powering down all my extra enchantments for now, till we know how the area will react to them, or until I need them to like, not die, or whatever." he nods

Not far off, east of them, anyone reasonably perceptive might pick up the reddish glow of firelight. People *do* come out here to camp, now and then, but... it's a bit off the beaten track for that, really.

	Ying Yue gives a shrug as her question goes unanswered by Mogui, then looks to Emrick as the unasked look of a question gets answered, seems that her expressions are easily picked up by others. She checks her own pockets for a couple of things, one of which looks like a patch-style bandage.

Mr. Fu looks up at all assembled here. Then remarks, "There's a campfire out there. Have we been scooped?" Mr. Fu frowns, fulminating slightly, albeit literally. "If it's another one of those Della Passaglia ..." mutters the creature before looking at Ying Yue, Emrick and MoGui expectantly. "Well? Go over there and make sure they don't have the artifact!"

Emrick looks down at the voice and sees Mr. Fu, aka the tiny actual dragon, holy F. His eyes go wide and he bends down to get a better look "Holy shit, you're a real dragon, like, a /real/ one. I make little golem ones, well, modeled off the Welsh dragon, not eastern ones like you but those are just golems and you're like, /real/." he sorta word vomits out in his excitement and then blinks when he gets commanded.

	"So tiny." Ying Yue says with a smile, then she laughs at Emrick's reaction to the little dragon. "Oh this is going to get amusing if we meet any trouble." She mutters, not so much to herself before starting towards the fire.

	Mo sighs, straps on a back holster for his sawed-off, and pulls the said sawed-off out of the Jeep, placing it in the holster. "Let's go before Mr. Fu ..." He'll let it trail off, whatever it is that Mr. Fu might do. "OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE!" he calls out in the direction of the campfire.

Within the small circle of firelight, there are a number of objects arranged around a smallish woman. She's already rising when they come into sight. Barefoot, she's standing on a cut-down square of old woolen blanket. She and the fire mark the center of another square: there are objects set at each of the cardinal directions, apparent representations of the elements.

Close to her feet is a vegetable-tanned messenger bag, with a small frame drum leaning against it; next to that, further from the fire, is a tall pack, the kind for serious hiking, with a longer case of some sort strapped to its side. Shotgun or rifle, maybe?

Taking them in with too-sharp eyes, the feathers in her hair moving in the slight breeze, the woman seems... poised. Waiting to see if they're friends or enemies, reading them deeper than any stranger has a right to.

Mr. Fu gravitates towards Ying Yue, keeping close. Or perhaps nudging her forward. Maybe both. Emrick gets /a look/. "Of course I'm real. I am Fan Feng Fu, one of the last of the Great Dragons of the Middle Kingdom!" For a small creature? He has the voice of a beast a hundred times larger!

Emrick runs a finger along his glasses, activating the magic stored within them since it's dark and they're heading towards unknown things. He looks down to Mr. Fu. "Well, I sorta lost my memory like two years ago, so I didn't know that dragons were real, if I ever knew it, I guess." he rubs his chin "Well it's an honor ta' meet ya'." he nods

	Mo motions the group forward, even as he takes point in approaching Kaati. "I'm Mo. These are my friends. That," he points to Mr. Fu with a jerked thumb over a shoulder, "is my Guide - Fan Feng Fu, one of the last of the Great Dragons of the Middle Kingdom." Wait, didn't the small embodied spirit just say that? Mo steps into the firelight, sizing Kaati up. "Are you - are you one of the Della Passaglia?"

	"If it makes any difference, I think that you would make a handsome cat if that was your chosen form." Ying Yue says to the tiny dragon. The white haired chinese woman takes everything around in with a glance, her senses growing sharper than normal.

Emrick smiles nervously "Uh, hey, I'm Emrick, nice ta' meet ya'." he says in a genuine kind of way to the women standing there.

Mr. Fu hnfs at Ying Yue's declaration, but it's more of a deliberative hnf than a judgmental one. Then he scampers forward towards the makeshift camp and the stranger.

	Kaati *blinks* at the dragon, staring for a moment. Then she turns her attention to the man speaking and cocks an eyebrow in a dubious expression. "What, do I *look* like a blood-sucking freak? I mean..." She gestures to her fire. And when the dragon moves, she gives him a wary look. "Easy there, mister," she says.

Mr. Fu gives Kaati a sniff, then looks up at Mo and back to Ying Yue and Emrick. "She passes muster. Doesn't smell like one of the Della Passaglias." A pause as the dragon ... rumbles. "And she feels nice."

Kaati actually draws back physically from the dragon, just the slightest bit, eyes widening some. She turns, then, sharp and sudden, reaching behind her back at the same time--to a knife that's plainly visible, sheathed at the small of her back.

Emrick shakes his head and holds out a hand to Mo. "She's not a vamp, or a demon, or anything else dark or sinister, you ain't gotta worry about that-." and then he pauses as she moves for something behind her back "..uh, doesn't mean normal folk's can't get mad when you walk into their camp though I spose'."

	"Well. There are different blood-sucking freaks, as you put it. Some could look just like you if they wish." Ying Yue comments off hand before Kaati gets a little startled. She then tries to look around to see if she can see what has her startled. "Hmm..."

	Mo's first instinct? Is to protect Fu. He reaches back to draw his sawed-off from its holster and puts himself between the tiny dragon and the darkness up ahead.

	Mo looks to Emrick. "That's a nifty trick. You can do that on-demand? Some kind of scanner?" Then he looks to Kaati and her knife. "What is it?"

	Kaati sheaths the knife and moves fast, for the rifle case at the side of her pack. She ends up well to the side, so as not to put her back to the unfamiliar group... and she doesn't take her eyes off whatever it is, out there beyond the firelight. "Uh, hey strangers, if you hate undead we're about to be friends... 'cause that looks a bit zombie-ish to me." She hasn't even gotten a *read* on these people, yet.

Emrick blinks a bit "Uh, the glasses. They help me identify things." he says in not a completely convincing manner. Then he hears the word 'zombie-ish' and blinks a bit "Well, fuck." he says and digs out two chunks of stone from his bag. He gives a quiet whistle and the tiny dragonshaped golem in his bag climbs out to sit on his shoulders, to watch his back.

	In the distance? Footfalls can be heard approaching. Dragging. Slow, but steady. Indeed, zombie-like.

	"Perhaps it is a restless spirit looking for something, or a guardian of some sort. We shall see if it gives warning, or if it just attacks." Ying Yue states. That's not to say that she doesn't take a measure or two just in case it does immediately attack.

Mr. Fu sniffs the air again. Electricity begins to arc defensively around his small, slender body and he steps back behind the group. Mr. Fu mutters, "The dead walk. That would be the missing Della Passaglia, I would think."

	The shambling dessicated corpse makes sounds, but nothing particularly intelligible, as its draws closer and closer. It has some sort of gladius looking thing in one hand.

	"Okay," Kaati says as she brings the rifle to her shoulder. "That's just nasty."

	Mo steps in front of Mr. Fu protectively, and holds his sawed-off at the ready, but the weapon isn't meant for attacking at range. "Em, make sure we don't let that thing get to the dragon."

Emrick looks down to the dragon "Oh, ok, sure." he heads over and puts his hand out "Mr Fu would you do me the supreme honor of jumping into my hand, or sitting on a shoulder?, I know that's asking a lot from something as majestic as you but my personal magic only goes so far." he asks of the little dragon in a most respectful and apologetic manner.

	The slender white-haired woman starts to move forwards, though she stays out of the line of fire. Again trying what she was before, after all what she is doing is still new to her, and she hasn't had the most practice. "There is a wraith inhabiting that body."

	The shambling dessicated corpse begins to build up a head of steam. Weren't zombies supposed to be slow moving?! There's spectral mojo accompany the thing, as those with Awareness and sensitivity to Entropy would pick up.

Mr. Fu eyes Emrick, then gives the man a nod and flies up to perch on the sorcerer's free shoulder. This close, Em can feel the electric energies in the dragon as a low thrumming sound.

	And from the tips of Ying Yue's fingers grow a set of claws, though with he lack of fine control over the partial shift, her skin goes a pale white, and a few white feathers are in that hair.

	Debris begins to swirl around the dessicated corpse, shards of broken rock and the like, dust, anything not bolted down to the ground. It continues approaching the group and campfire, accelerating!

Emrick says "Thanks!" to Mr Fu, and its obvious that he's giddy with the fact of having a real dragon on his shoulder. Then he traces a sigil on his jacket with a finger and just sort of begins to blur. (arcane 5 activated) Next he taps his shoes together, very we're not in kansas anymore style and they hum for a second with power. (double speed for evading pursuit) "Alright, well, we won't get got, but that means ya' all are gonna have to do the fightin'." he nods and draws a dagger from under his jacket just in case.

	"Oh, no you didn't," Kaati mutters as the whirlwind spins up. She fires, then, the rifle's report slamming through the desert air. Probably carries for miles...

Emrick will huck one of the stones he got out of his bag, not one to carry a gun.

	Mo keeps his proverbial and literal powder dry, seeing as the sawed-off isn't much good at range. He situates himself in front of Emrick and Fu and takes a defensive stance.

Emrick lets the rock fly and it crackles with energy as it leaves his hand, smashing into the zombie-thing.

	The round from Kaati's rifle leaves a trail in the air, somehow, and slams right into the thing's center of mass.

	The Della Passaglia zombie has chunks go flying as both rock and round come close to breaking it apart entirely. Close, but not quite. The dessicated corpse chunks join the whirling cyclone of debris, however as is enters melee range!

	Ying Yue makes a swiping motion, from the ground up, as she advances on the Zombie. For a moment, there is nothing, then in a row, about a half foot apart each, a dozen stone spikes shoot out from the ground directly in its path.

	Deterred by Ying Yue's Gift, the zombie gnashes teeth as the debris cyclone begins to erode the stone spikes. Slowly, but surely. In the meantime? It thrusts its gladius between the spikes at the party in futility!

	Mo blinks. "Whoah, lookit that!" He looks back over a shoulder to make sure Fu and Emrick are ok, then he moves closer to Katti to join her in aiming at the zombie and the cyclone o' death!

	Mo moves up to the edge of the spike trap, levels the boomstick at the Della P, and pulls the trigger. A thunderous boom, a flash of fiery blast! And the thing goes down for the count, bits of corpse splattering across the desert. The cyclone o' death? Comes to an end. The wraith gets sucked into a nihil! (for those that can see such things!)

	The party triumphs over the first obstacle to the tower! Huzzah!

Mr. Fu looks upon Ying Yue and her magick with approval. "Thank you for keeping us safe," he'll rumble out in a thunderous voice.

	The stone spikes will definitely be an oddity to any crossing their path, as they are likely to remain there until the wind and sand chip them away to nothing. Ying Yue looks towards the tiny dragon, "That is what I do."

===> Server closed the connection. <===> 1/22/2020, 11:09:26 PM <===