suiko logs

* Break_ is now known as Iltani
<Kaingaskhan> On some hot tips, you guys decide to investigate a lead in Dulcet concerning one of the key members of the Nolgrandan hierarchy, Artifour di Surveil. Namely, a man named Wilhelm di Surveil that some of you remember occupying the Runiversity. It's a quick blink and a jump to get there, and asking around the institute gets you sent to the Head Rune Surveyor's office in the midst of the
<Kaingaskhan> rune research wing.
 Iltani has never been to the runiversity before to meet with Wilhelm - as she recalls, that was Katsuo and Lekha's thing.
<Kaingaskhan> As you enter the office, you're greeted by an extremely plush black couch for visitors to sit on, though whether they'd ever emerge from it is another story. A slightly pudgy man with medium length dark hair tied behind his head is sitting at the desk, chewing something or another, and reading a fancy printed bulletin. Various knicknacks hang around the office, things like pith helmets
<Kaingaskhan> with little magic lights on them, rune crystals containing weird and not particularly combat-useful runes found on expeditions, and even a couple of pokemon fossils.
<Kaingaskhan> He glances up as you enter the office. "Oh, hey, can I help you? ...Have we met? I feel like we've met." he says, studying Katsuo's face a moment.
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "We have met once before, but I do not recall if we were properly introduced.  I am Katsuo of the Tsukino clan.  You helped my friend Lekha with getting a dowsing rod before, I believe."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> He gives a small bow in greeting.
<Kaingaskhan> "Oh! The girl with the khakkhara! Yeah, I remember that."
<Kaingaskhan> "Well, as the nameplate on my desk says, I'm Wilhelm di Surveil, head of the Rune Survey department. What do you folks need help with?"
<Kaingaskhan> He seems to put an extra stress on pronouncing his name with a W, not a V.
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> Katsuo makes a mental note of the pronunciation and continues.  "We were wondering what you might know about your relative, Artifour."
<Kaingaskhan> He turns a moment, grabbing a piece of paper to spit a wad of pink chewing gum into, folding it up and setting it to the side.
<Kaingaskhan> "Oh." he makes a face. "Yeah, I get that, sometimes. 'Your uncle's the chief wizard of Nolgranda, right?' Right. Well yeah, we're related. He's my uncle by marriage to my aunt Yulia. "
<Kaingaskhan> "What'd you want to know?"
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> He blinks.  "So he married into the Surveil family?"
<Somalakshmi> "You're both men of science, aren't you? What do you know of his research?"
<Kaingaskhan> "Right. Artifour Alabaster was his name before. He was the last surviving heir of House Alabaster, which all things considered was a small noble house, due to his mother becoming barren after his birth. Blah blah blah, the rest of the family died of old age, he was the only one left. He married into the di Surveil family and took Yulia's surname, which was something of a minor scandal,
<Kaingaskhan> I guess, since the family's foreign blood. You might or might not have guessed that from the 'di' notation in the name, I dunno how much you know. Personally I left Nolgranda to get away from crap like that, but it always seems to follow me." he answers Katsuo.
<Kaingaskhan> Then he turns to Soma and prepares to speak.
<Kaingaskhan> "Many of us are fond to say there is a certain science to magic, even if a lot of the common folk don't really seem to grasp that... having said that I'm not sure I can really compare my field to Arty's. Me, I study the formation of runes in the environment and sometimes oversee rune hunting expeditions. Artifour... his studies were a little weirder. He was curious about what comprised
<Kaingaskhan> a human being."
<Kaingaskhan> "He studied the elements of alchemy that compose a person, and invested into research of the very soul to try and quantify it. I never really did hear much about his successes, but he did convince the famous wizard, Alastor Crowley, to apprentice him. That man's done strange things with research into living beings, especially when it comes to chimeras - artificial beings amalgamated
<Kaingaskhan> from at least two others."
 Iltani nods. This meshes what they found at Crowley's old place - particularly the journals. Do we still have those?
<Kaingaskhan> "He convinced Yulia to move out there with him, too, to Whisperwhite.... and a couple of years later, my aunt lost her life in a snowstorm. At least, that's what Artifour's story is. After that... he dropped out of contact a little, became more reserved. He eventually moved back to Nolgranda, and I heard he was made Chief Wizard and had started studying star reading as a fortune telling
<Kaingaskhan> method, which was unusual."
<Kaingaskhan> You do still have those journals.
 Iltani looks to Katsuo. How much are they willing to reveal about where Artifour's been?
<Iltani> There's the levin-touched sylphs, Yuber....
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "We ran into some evidence that he might have been trying to revive his wife with a chimera experiment when we went to Whisperwhite..."  He considers his options on this...
<Kaingaskhan> "Heavens above.." he whispers, his eyes bugging out a bit.
<Iltani> "We found his notes there....as well as two of his chimeras which yet lived."
<Iltani> "Three if we're counting an egg which hatched into something quite harmless, however."
<Iltani> Dorb!
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "Hmmmm, there was one other..."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "There was a Pokemon that I think was directly related to his attempt."
<Kaingaskhan> Wilhelm raises an eyebrow.
<Iltani> "....did Espurrs in particular mean anything to him?"
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> He holds up a rune ball.  "Considering you knew her, mayhap meeting this Pokemon might be worth something."  then he lets out Yugiri.
<Kaingaskhan> "Espurr? Yulia had one, actually. She named him Arty, after her husband. I remember he always used to joke she loved that pokemon more than she loved its namesake."
 Iltani nods to Katsuo. "We've seen Espurrs come up time and time again in his research and methods, almost to the point of obsession."
<Kaingaskhan> He goes quiet when he sees Yugiri. "A froslass...?" he leans in. "...She has very beautiful eyes, doesn't she? ...My aunt had eyes that color as well. Sapphire eyes..." he's quiet for a moment, and Yugiri tilts her head, curiously.
<Iltani> "Even caught a couple of examples."
<Kaingaskhan> "...I'm not sure it means anything, though. People don't come back from the dead, and even that legend about Froslass is just a legend... I think. ...That desperate, mad fool."
<Kaingaskhan> Wilhelm looks like he's getting a little pissed and stews in his thoughts a moment, considering all of this.
<Iltani> "Katsuo and Lekha both have some of the fruits of his Espurr-based research, and...we fear he may be drawing himself further into dangerous territory."
<Kaingaskhan> "Even further than trying some bizarre experiment profaning the dead?"
<Kaingaskhan> "No offense." he says to Yugiri.
<Kaingaskhan> She just seems baffled.
<Somalakshmi> "Do you have any idea of what he might be looking for in Sindar ruins?"
<Kaingaskhan> "Uhh, a lot of things. The Sindar were in possession of loads of magical prowess we still don't fully understand to this day. A number of leaps in our fields of research came from studying what they did and applying it where we could understand it, though some try and distance themselves from that in their work to try and come up with independent innovation."
<Iltani> "....anything important enough to consider an entire Nolgrandan retinue expendable?"
<Kaingaskhan> "But mainly, the Sindar empire was full of miracles on a daily basis."
<Kaingaskhan> "Oh, probably. Legend has it the Sindars could travel rapidly across the land in the blink of an eye, create miraculous equipment, and even open gates to other realms."
<Kaingaskhan> "And their knowledge of the True Runes was immense."
<Kaingaskhan> "Maybe he was looking for a gate to the realm of the dead." he says dryly. "Being too afraid to take the easier road available to him."
<Iltani> rekt
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "It would be good to help him with that lane of his research."  He smirks.
<Kaingaskhan> He sighs. "I'm pissed off at him after hearing about all this, but... I dunno exactly what he's been doing lately. He seems to have made a number of enemies, at any rate."
<Iltani> "Demonic entities, even...nothing seems forbidden to him."
<Kaingaskhan> "If you want to try psychological warfare against him, you could always bring that Froslass next time you encounter him."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "I was considering her or the Meowstic I got from him."
<Iltani> "Already tried. He very much doesn't like to be reminded of the costs and pettiness of his ambitions."
<Iltani> "Meanwhile, you seem almost entirely too willing to take him down a few pegs."
<Kaingaskhan> "After hearing what he did after my aunt died?"
<Kaingaskhan> "I don't want the man dead or anything, but maybe he deserves it by now."
<Kaingaskhan> He sighs again. "I tried reaching out, you know? After Yulia died."
<Kaingaskhan> "But I think Artifour just shrunk back further."
<Kaingaskhan> "I wonder if we'd been able to be there for him as his family, if it would have still come to all that."
<Iltani> "....can anything make him turn back now?"
<Iltani> "He knows what he has done. He knows the costs. I'm not sure if he even cares."
<Kaingaskhan> "You tell me. If he was desperate enough to try bringing her back from the dead and that failed, I doubt there's any hope for him now."
<Kaingaskhan> "But from the sound of it that hasn't been his only sin since."
<Kaingaskhan> "I just... wonder if it could have been prevented, is all. I know the rest of the family didn't like the guy very much."
<Kaingaskhan> "He actually made the family look kind of bad in the nobility since he married under his station."
<Kaingaskhan> "Specifically, I mean taking Yulia's surname too, a lot of the Nolgranda nobility looked on it as a sort of... ugh, this is hard to explain and I never liked this crap to begin with. You get what I'm saying though, right?"
<Iltani> "...more or less."
<Kaingaskhan> "Basically 'Alabaster' was a black sheep."
<Kaingaskhan> "The DeLeon family had a lot more luck because they married up instead of down."
<Kaingaskhan> "What I wouldn't have given to have grown up anywhere else in Nolgranda besides Heaven's Reach. Maybe a nice hamlet like Ever's Path or Ocean's Bounty where noble politics didn't matter."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> He perks up at that name.  "What do you mean by that, with the DeLeon family?"
<Kaingaskhan> "Oh, I just brought them up because they were a foreign noble family that kept marrying off non-heirs into native noble families, and eventually over generations the bloodline was considered "local" enough to upgrade the family's standing."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "Hmmm, yes, I had heard something like that before."  He recalls the admiral riling up DAnielle
<Kaingaskhan> "It's more politics. Anyone can become 'nobility' with enough land, money, and influence, but whether you're Nolgrandan native or not affects social class to a degree."
<Kaingaskhan> "It's a convoluted and archaic system dragging that country down."
<Somalakshmi> "I doubt it's going anywhere the way things are."
<Kaingaskhan> "Yeah, no kidding. And you can probably blame the greedy noble merchant class for the state of their economics."
<Kaingaskhan> "If not the King and Queen themselves."
<Kaingaskhan> "You can't have a country that subsists solely on metal mining and non-renewable food, relying on produce imports AND take such a hard stance against foreignors."
<Kaingaskhan> "It was bound to start failing at some point."
<Iltani> "And thus, the war."
<Iltani> "Some of us felt the shockwaves from their economic policy more keenly than most."
<Kaingaskhan> "Yeah? Where were you from?"
<Iltani> "Ever's Path."
<Kaingaskhan> "Oh, huh."
<Kaingaskhan> "Yeah... as far apart from the politics as that place probably was, it was probably still hard to make ends meet I bet..."
<Iltani> "Sadly so."
<Kaingaskhan> "That's... thankfully something I never had to worry about, but at least I'm earning that now, here in Dulcet, instead of benefiting off my family's wealth."
<Kaingaskhan> "Who are you guys, anyway? A Nolgrandan expat, a Sarangan girl, a Tsukino ninja, and that girl I made the dowsing rod for. Not really the kind of group I'd have expected to interact with my uncle."
<Somalakshmi> "It takes all kinds, as they say."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "We are part of the Chroma Peace Alliance, and we have come at odds with him in trying to hurt Nolgranda's war effort."
<Kaingaskhan> "The Chroma Peace... Oh, that group that caused a big stir in Davadezi? I heard about that this morning, though some of my coworkers think you guys have been around Dulcet a lot before then, even."
<Somalakshmi> "We've even done battle with him directly at times."
<Kaingaskhan> He leans back, and draws in a breath. "Man, war sucks. So what's your goal, just to get Nolgranda to call off the war?"
<Iltani> "Even before hearing about his goals from you, he was not happy with me for hitting a mite too close to home."
<Kaingaskhan> "Oh, I bet not."
<Kaingaskhan> "Let me be blunt with you guys, though. Nolgrandan nobility are a bunch of stubborn shitheads."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "That is our main goal, but there are some...other nefarious parties that we also want to subvert.  Like Artifour, and that Founder."
<Kaingaskhan> "They aren't going to change their minds easily."
<Somalakshmi> "So we've noticed."
<Kaingaskhan> "You might have to take your Peace Alliance all the way to the King and Queen's doorstep."
<Kaingaskhan> "So you guys better damn well be prepared to see it all through if you're serious about peace, because Nolgranda needs a major shake up if it's gonna get off the road it's been going on."
<Somalakshmi> "Indeed. It's something that our leader is working very hard to figure out."
<Kaingaskhan> "And you say you're after the Founder, too? Myriad Occulus used to be a relatively unknown group, but they've been growing in notoriety lately."
<Somalakshmi> "I believe if anyone can set Nolgranda back on the right path, it's him."
<Kaingaskhan> "Especially after Viktoria kicked them out of Dulcet."
<Kaingaskhan> "Your leader is the one they say has a True Rune, right? I heard he bellowed a call to arms from the sky itself."
<Kaingaskhan> "Must be a hell of a guy."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "You heard correct."
<Somalakshmi> "He is a strong person. And as a bearer of a true rune, he will see this through to the end."
<Kaingaskhan> "You should tell him to come speak at the Runiversity some time. I've got a lot on my plate, but I don't mind trying to lend what help I can from here. And there's probably a number of students who'd volunteer to help if you need people."
<Kaingaskhan> "The Runiversity's staff and students are some of the best on the continent, in some cases better than Brighthaven Academy's."
<Iltani> "If you could introduce us to anyone in particular, that would be most helpful."
<Somalakshmi> "We'd be happy to have them. Even if some of them aren't good in a fight, we're still in need of staff to provide support for the alliance."
<Kaingaskhan> "I would have recommended Jeane, but she tendered her resignation a few days ago.... really I'll just have to probe the staff and see who might be willing to pitch in."
<Somalakshmi> "Cooks, postal workers, researchers, ah yes, Jeane has already agreed to join us."
<Kaingaskhan> "Really? You guys are the ones who poached her?" He laughs. "You made a lot of people upset that day."
<Kaingaskhan> "Let's just say quite a few of Jeane's students didn't attend her classes to learn. And that was actually something that annoyed her to no end. But it's hard to concentrate on your studies when an otherworldly charm like that is in front of you."
<Kaingaskhan> "It would be a bit like having her for a teacher, even." he gestures at Soma.
 Iltani frowns.
<Somalakshmi> "Whatever gets them in the seats." Soma smiles.
<Kaingaskhan> He looks at Iltani. "You, on the other hand... you seem like you'd make a fine teacher. You seem like the type."
<Kaingaskhan> "...But enough of that. I'll have a talk with people around campus."
 Iltani doesn't seem convinced. "In the sense of actually imparting knowledge, or merely getting people in seats?"
<Kaingaskhan> "Both? But you also seem the sort that can command respect."
<Kaingaskhan> "It's a complimeeeent, don't take it the wrong way. I'm not a creep."
<Iltani> "....right. We'll keep an eye out for anyone who wants to help, then," she replies sternly.
<Kaingaskhan> "Did you have any more questions for me? About Artifour or, heavens forbid, something my professional expertise covers?"
<Kaingaskhan> "Or maybe you want me to have people look at this Froslass? That's something we might could do too. I dunno."
<Iltani> "That's up to Katsuo, I suppose. Maybe also the Espurrs."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "I would appreciate having a look at her.  Also, I am curious, does any of your area of expertise pertain to the formation of demons, perhaps?  I know they often have runes bonded to them..."
<Kaingaskhan> "Oh, those things? Well... it's only been a recent phenomenon, to tell you the truth. It hasn't really been well studied, and even our program on it is in its infancy stages. Around twenty years ago was when it started to happen."
<Kaingaskhan> "Runes tend to form naturally in spots of the world that have dense aetheric energy, and failing that the magic crystalizes into shards that can be found with dowsing rods. What you could probably discern from that is that it takes a lot of aetheric energy to create a demon, and a rune branding them in the process is a side effect."
<Kaingaskhan> "But no one really knows the hows or whys of them."
<Kaingaskhan> "There's also the fact that it only happens to Pokemon. Humans and monsters have so far shown no receptance to whatever power transforms Pokemon into 'demons'.
<Kaingaskhan> "And I guess there's also the troubling matter of a sixth sense people tend to gain around demons, almost feeling their intentions and sensing their abilities. It's another phenomenon that isn't well understood. The only known natural magic available to humans is that of dream visions, but at the same tiiiiiiime, what's this sixth sense all about? Is it a part of the demons' power? Why
<Kaingaskhan> is it universal? We don't really know."
<Kaingaskhan> "Though it's been speculated it has something to do with the blessings the Trio of Humanity placed on humans in antiquity."
<Kaingaskhan> "Knowledge, Emotion, and Willpower."
<Kaingaskhan> He shrugs.
<Kaingaskhan> "If we had more Demons to study, maybe."
<Iltani> "Indeed...or the ability to find their source." She keeps mum about their lead.
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "We have been catching a lot of Demons ourselves, actually..."
<Kaingaskhan> "Really? I've heard of strong adventurers catching one here or there, but... guess a group on the backfoot against Nolgranda needs the help." he scratches his chin.
<Kaingaskhan> "Willing to let us borrow any of them?"
<Iltani> "Borrow may be a bit much, but we can introduce you to one or two."
 Iltani looks for Khamsin's ball on her belt.
<Somalakshmi> "There's one I caught recently... I haven't even had time to name her just yet."
<Iltani> "....all of us have one, it seems."
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "I would not be willing to part with any but you can certainly have a look at them for a bit."  He pops out Raiden.
 Iltani pops out the proud warrior Scyther.
<Kaingaskhan> Wilhelm looks baffled at Khamsin's appearance. "...That's a Pokemon, huh. Wow."
<Kaingaskhan> And then he looks at Raiden. "A Sindarin Golem became one? Interesting..."
<Kaingaskhan> He scratches the back of his head. "I asked to borrow because I'm not exactly the right guy to look into all of this. But even I can tell how special these Pokemon are at a glance."
<Kaingaskhan> "But I do know a guy we could bring them to. If you'll follow me..."
<Kaingaskhan> He gets up from his seat.
<Katsuo_Nightarrow> "Of course."
 Iltani follows along.
<Kaingaskhan> Aaaand we'll call it here for today. I'll get a pastebin of what you find out  sometime during the week.
<Somalakshmi> kk
<Kaingaskhan> Soma, are you going to let them look at the Meloetta as well?
<Somalakshmi> I am
<Kaingaskhan> Okay, I'll take that into account.
<Kaingaskhan> alrighty then
<Kaingaskhan> SESSION END