A Handful of Dust Session 83

19:49.22] <DM> So she begins.
[19:49.30] * DM changes topic to: A Handful of Dust Session 83: Sharp Gasping - ＋https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BigolJfoANw，
[19:50.00] <DM> Tercis gasps.
[19:50.16] * Kir_ (uid63846@ealing.irccloud.com) has joined channel #nesdnd
[19:50.19] * Repriever resummons the arm to hold her.
[19:50.21] <DM> In the crypt below, with Shala looking on as time begins anew.
[19:50.34] <DM> Lying in Repriever's lap, Plainchant's eyes wide with awe.
[19:50.48] * DM sets mode +v Kir_ for #nesdnd
[19:51.16] * Repriever is shut-eyed and breathing, as if calming nausea, as beads of sweat pool on his brow.
[19:51.37] <DM> <<The pilgrims of Sasaris should have numbered seven hundred...but there were less...>> whispers Tercis, in flawless celestial.
[19:52.25] <DM> She hacks, and glowing blue-white liquid is coughed out of her mouth, onto her chest, where it slowly fades.
[19:52.32] <DM> And gasps again.
[19:52.40] * azale_ (IceChat9@cpe-97-98-83-80.stx.res.rr.com) has joined channel #nesdnd
[19:52.51] <DM> "Where am I...why...?"
[19:53.06] * Shala (IceChat9@cpe-97-98-83-80.stx.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds)
[19:53.12] * Repriever regains his composure, shifting her in his lap so she can sit a little higher.
[19:53.15] * You are now known as Plainchant
[19:53.21] <+Repriever> "The world of the living."
[19:53.24] <Plainchant> "Do you...do you recognize us, my queen?"
[19:53.29] * You are now known as Tercis
[19:53.36] * Tercis looks at Plainchant, and smiles.
[19:53.42] <Tercis> "Pilgrim. Do we ride now?"
[19:53.50] * You are now known as Plainchant
[19:53.53] <Plainchant> "I..."
[19:53.55] * You are now known as Tercis
[19:54.04] * Repriever scrunches his brow.
[19:54.05] * Tercis turns, and sees Repriever behind her.
[19:54.10] <Tercis> "Ah!"
[19:54.16] * azale_ is now known as Shala
[19:54.19] * Tercis scrambles out of his lap, backwards, eyes wide with alarm.
[19:54.37] <Tercis> "Pillar of Asher!"
[19:54.46] <Shala> "Well, I was always told necromancy was a half step from conjuration."
[19:54.50] * Shala puts a hand on her hip
[19:54.57] * Tercis contorts her face in disgust, eyes flashing from Shala to Repriever.
[19:55.00] <+Repriever> "Slow... slow... you're going to feel the rebirth sickness."
[19:55.01] * Tercis sets mode +v Shala for #nesdnd
[19:55.12] * Repriever stays on his knees where he was, hands raised to soothe.
[19:55.17] <Tercis> <<Do you yet torment me? Has your tree not grown roots deep enough?!?"
[19:55.33] * Tercis scrambles backwards until her back is against the wall.
[19:55.52] <Tercis> <<Was your slaughter not enough, alabaster spine?>>
[19:56.01] * Tercis alternates individual words between Celestial and Elydian.
[19:56.18] <Tercis> It sounds incomprehensible to Shala.
[19:56.23] * You are now known as Plainchant
[19:56.28] * Plainchant runs to her.
[19:56.29] <+Repriever> "Alabaster? What...?"
[19:56.34] * Shala looks with consternation
[19:56.39] <Plainchant> "My queen."
[19:56.55] <Plainchant> "You are Tercis."
[19:56.55] * Repriever turns his face on Shala.
[19:57.02] <Plainchant> "Tercis."
[19:57.02] <+Shala> "She clearly needs some time"
[19:57.03] <+Repriever> "What have you done, Cal?"
[19:57.14] * Kir_ (uid63846@ealing.irccloud.com) Quit (Quit: )
[19:57.16] <+Shala> "What I was told."
[19:57.42] * Shala flexes a hand that misses something
[19:57.54] <+Shala> "Calcis did what she could"
[19:58.10] <+Repriever> "And what was that?"
[19:58.15] * You are now known as Tercis
[19:58.17] <+Repriever> "What happened!?"
[19:58.24] * Tercis gasps again, her face covered in cold sweat.
[19:58.27] <Tercis> "Tercis..."
[19:58.35] <Tercis> "I'm Tercis."
[19:58.39] <Tercis> "I'm Tercis."
[19:58.43] * You are now known as Plainchant
[19:58.45] <Plainchant> "Yes."
[19:58.48] <+Shala> "Necromancy is *dangerous*"
[19:58.54] * Shala presents herself as evidence
[19:59.01] <+Shala> "She says...it's not on her"
[19:59.10] <+Shala> "Then who is it 'on'?"
[19:59.10] * Repriever slackens his expression at Tercis' words.
[19:59.13] * Shala asks aloud to her
[19:59.26] <Plainchant> "You are Queen Tercis."
[20:00.37] * Repriever looks down onto his flesh hand, where the Key resides as a ring.
[20:00.57] <+Repriever> "What does Calcis say?"
[20:01.00] * Shala looks down her nose at where the ring sits
[20:01.02] * Repriever asks either of the two.
[20:01.15] * Shala sighs
[20:01.18] <+Shala> "Heaven is empty"
[20:01.22] <+Repriever> "Empty?"
[20:01.35] <+Repriever> "Where did she gather the soul?"
[20:01.42] <+Shala> "The divines are not there, but somewher else"
[20:01.54] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:02.03] * Tercis lets out a long, slow, shuddering gasp.
[20:02.14] * Repriever snaps his head back toward the queen.
[20:02.19] <Tercis> "We would leave pennants...and the tribes would leave offerings there..."
[20:02.24] <Tercis> "What am I saying?"
[20:02.29] * Tercis blinks.
[20:02.39] * Kir (6b4de0aa@ircip2.mibbit.com) has joined channel #nesdnd
[20:02.40] <Tercis> "Where am I?"
[20:02.48] <Tercis> "It's cold here."
[20:02.52] * Tercis sets mode +v Kir for #nesdnd
[20:02.55] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:03.07] <Plainchant> "Lie still, my queen, I will get you some warm things."
[20:03.33] * Shala massages her temples
[20:03.37] * Plainchant sticks her head out the door, issuing orders for a blanket and some heated wine.
[20:03.54] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:04.00] <Tercis> "You're that knight."
[20:04.04] * Repriever tries to stand, finding his own legs unsteady.
[20:04.09] <Tercis> "And you're the wizard."
[20:04.16] <Tercis> "What did I...think...?"
[20:04.36] * Repriever takes her statement with a wash of sorrow.
[20:04.47] * Tercis closes her eyes.
[20:04.52] <+Repriever> "You /know/ us."
[20:05.02] <Tercis> "Yes."
[20:05.07] <Tercis> "I...know you."
[20:05.19] <Tercis> "Defender of our mother."
[20:05.33] <Tercis> "And you are the one marked by the six-pointed star."
[20:05.39] * Tercis looks at Shala.
[20:06.06] * Shala nods
[20:06.06] <Tercis> "Or was it...a pentagram..."
[20:06.21] <+Shala> [a bit on the nose i think? :p ]
[20:06.34] * Tercis winces as a trickle of blood goes down her nose.
[20:06.40] <+Shala> "Well, we're sisters of a type in any event"
[20:06.42] * Shala mutters
[20:06.55] * Repriever steps to the open tomb and leans against its side.
[20:06.57] <Tercis> "Yes."
[20:07.02] <Tercis> "It's the aerie now that you have."
[20:07.15] <+Repriever> "What do you last remember?"
[20:07.17] * Repriever asks softly.
[20:07.20] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:07.29] * Plainchant wraps a blanket around her shoulders.
[20:07.32] <Plainchant> "Drink this."
[20:07.36] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:07.45] * Tercis pauses to slowly lift her winecup and drink.
[20:08.12] <Tercis> "Kallias sent a message that something was wrong...he said to leave."
[20:08.22] * Repriever has his eyes on the Key-ring, flexing his hand.
[20:08.29] <Tercis> "And then the palace..."
[20:08.35] <Tercis> "The floor started to tilt..."
[20:08.41] <Tercis> "And I was sliding, and then it..."
[20:09.01] * Tercis gasps shortly.
[20:09.07] <Tercis> "It hurt."
[20:09.18] <Tercis> "And then I was somewhere else."
[20:09.26] <Tercis> "It was a white place."
[20:09.36] <Tercis> "It was like falling, but without the fear this time."
[20:09.44] <Tercis> "It was beautiful."
[20:10.06] * Repriever exhales a small huff of happiness.
[20:10.32] <+Repriever> "I promised to save you. I could not let you lie."
[20:10.42] <+Repriever> "Your people need you."
[20:11.13] <Tercis> "Yes, Asher."
[20:11.22] <Tercis> "I mean...Repriever."
[20:11.30] * Repriever furrows his brow, but doesn't say anything.
[20:12.20] <+Repriever> "You are queen, but your body is frail and will be for some time. Coming back does that."
[20:13.06] <Tercis> "What was that thing that I couldn't know..."
[20:13.19] <Tercis> "I felt it when Calcis pulled me."
[20:13.31] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:13.43] <Plainchant> "You can't dwell on it, my queen."
[20:14.02] * Repriever looks to Plainchant expectantly.
[20:14.19] * Plainchant makes a blood trickling down nose gesture.
[20:14.42] <Plainchant> "It's not a good thought."
[20:14.46] * Repriever huffs.
[20:15.00] <+Repriever> "New or old."
[20:15.17] <Plainchant> "Three hundred years old."
[20:15.22] * Repriever nods.
[20:15.25] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:15.28] <Tercis> "Help me rise."
[20:15.30] <Tercis> "Please."
[20:15.37] * Repriever joins Plainchant to do just that.
[20:16.06] * Shala feels like she just did that
[20:16.21] <+Repriever> [lol]
[20:16.47] <Tercis> "I can't walk."
[20:16.53] <Tercis> "Is that permanent?"
[20:17.00] <+Repriever> "No."
[20:17.06] * Repriever will carry her.
[20:17.47] <+Repriever> "We'll take her to your chambers, Plainchant. She needs food and rest."
[20:18.08] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:18.12] <+Repriever> [did we see the roseguard at all since arriving?]
[20:18.14] <Plainchant> "Surely."
[20:18.16] <Plainchant> [no]
[20:18.22] * Shala feels a dawning wave of angst as she sideeyes the key again
[20:18.26] <Plainchant> [they are conspicuously absent]
[20:18.30] <+Repriever> "Where are the Roseguard?"
[20:18.41] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:18.45] <Tercis> "Yes, Plainchant."
[20:18.50] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:18.58] * Plainchant looks down and to the side.
[20:19.24] <Plainchant> "They were with the Queen."
[20:19.30] <+Repriever> "All of them?"
[20:19.49] * Repriever understands.
[20:20.03] <Plainchant> "There were still infiltrators..."
[20:20.18] <Plainchant> "The Apastron waits longer than women think."
[20:20.26] <Plainchant> "We doubled the guard rotations."
[20:20.38] <Plainchant> "We didn't think the palace was vulnerable."
[20:20.41] <+Repriever> "Who do you trust most in your order?"
[20:20.53] <Plainchant> "Obviously it depends on the task."
[20:21.07] <+Repriever> "No one from the Celtari household forces."
[20:21.21] <+Repriever> "The queen must be protected, not placed in a cage."
[20:21.42] <+Repriever> "Let's leave this cold place."
[20:21.50] * Repriever scoops Tercis into his arms.
[20:21.59] * Plainchant considers.
[20:22.42] * Shala keeps close to them
[20:22.49] <Plainchant> "I left Swiftspear to secure the northern borderlands against seawalking wights..."
[20:23.08] <Plainchant> "I'll recall her."
[20:23.09] * Repriever will walk and talk, heading toward Plainchant's chambers. He knows the way well enough.
[20:23.15] <Plainchant> "In the meantime, Bramblesong."
[20:23.49] <Plainchant> A contingent of Celtari troops in green and white doublets meets you around a corner, accompanied by a very startled looking Delia.
[20:23.52] <+Repriever> "Send for him. He'll form a new guard."
[20:24.09] * You are now known as Delia_Celtari
[20:24.13] <Delia_Celtari> "What in the fuck!?"
[20:24.29] * Delia_Celtari draws her sword, stepping back.
[20:24.37] <Delia_Celtari> "How are you alive!?"
[20:24.39] <+Repriever> "You'll want to put that away."
[20:24.45] <Delia_Celtari> "Are you alive?"
[20:24.54] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:24.59] <+Repriever> "You'd draw steel on your queen?"
[20:25.02] <Plainchant> "It's a resurrection, sister."
[20:25.07] <Plainchant> "She's not a wight."
[20:25.30] * Repriever watches Delia's eyes.
[20:25.41] * You are now known as Delia
[20:25.46] * Delia flicks back to Repriever.
[20:25.51] <Delia> "You look different, too..."
[20:26.00] <Delia> "Not bad, honestly."
[20:26.10] <Delia> "Can I get some of what he's having?"
[20:26.14] * Delia chuckles.
[20:26.39] * Repriever thinks about that, then asks Shala.
[20:26.45] * Delia slowly sheathes her sword.
[20:26.52] <+Repriever> "Any different?"
[20:27.46] <+Shala> "Well..."
[20:28.09] <+Shala> "Castigate a girl for noticing, but..."
[20:28.29] <+Shala> "You don't look dead anymore"
[20:28.59] <Delia> "Which is exactly what dead people want you to think."
[20:29.05] * Delia uncorks a tiny flask.
[20:29.09] <Delia> "It's healing potion."
[20:29.20] <Delia> "Take a sip, prove you're not."
[20:29.35] <Delia> "My queen."
[20:29.38] * Delia nods, bowing slightly.
[20:29.47] * Repriever is carrying Tercis, but stops Delia.
[20:29.52] <+Repriever> "Me first."
[20:29.52] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:30.03] <Tercis> "I understand your reticence, Lord Celtari."
[20:30.20] <Tercis> "Resurrections are not exactly common."
[20:30.33] * Tercis takes a long, deep breath.
[20:30.39] * You are now known as Delia
[20:30.45] <Delia> "Yeah, bit of an understatement there."
[20:30.57] <Delia> "Calcis' fucking spear, what a day."
[20:31.04] <Delia> "Pardon my elvish."
[20:31.17] * Repriever seems relieved that it doesn't appear to be a poisoning.
[20:31.45] <+Repriever> "Swear an oath to her."
[20:31.51] <+Repriever> "Right here."
[20:31.53] <Delia> "You're kidding."
[20:31.57] <Delia> "I'm loyal!"
[20:32.01] * Repriever has a face that lacks all kidding.
[20:32.09] * Delia groans.
[20:32.17] <Delia> "Fucking knees aren't great, you know..."
[20:32.22] * Delia kneels nonetheless.
[20:32.30] <Delia> "As always, my loyalty is to the house of Calcis."
[20:32.33] * Repriever makes sure all her women see it happen.
[20:32.46] * Delia Tercis extends a tired hand to be kissed by Delia.
[20:33.05] <Delia> [delete that first delia]
[20:33.13] <+Repriever> [:p]
[20:33.30] <Delia> "Are we good now?"
[20:33.48] <+Repriever> "Anyone else claiming?"
[20:34.05] <Delia> "I wasn't claiming, you baby."
[20:34.19] <+Repriever> "I've seen enough of it to know better."
[20:34.34] <Delia> "All due respect, but queening isn't really my game."
[20:35.17] <+Repriever> "And another thing."
[20:36.20] <+Repriever> "Your islands don't fly until every slave is unchained."
[20:36.30] * Repriever says to Tercis, but also to the Celtari sisters.
[20:36.51] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:36.53] <Tercis> "What?"
[20:36.57] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:37.06] <Plainchant> "We'll...catch you up on it after you've rested, my queen."
[20:37.10] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:37.13] <Tercis> "No, what?"
[20:37.23] * You are now known as Delia
[20:37.26] <Delia> "Here goes politics."
[20:37.45] * Repriever walks on, during this conversation.
[20:38.27] <Delia> "So you want to free the slaves."
[20:38.29] <Delia> "Greeeeeeat."
[20:38.43] <Delia> "What are you gonna do, turn them into the streets to be thieves?"
[20:38.58] <+Repriever> "Offer them a choice."
[20:39.20] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:39.24] * Repriever has no humor in his voice.
[20:39.25] <+Shala> "Something Apastron wouldnt do"
[20:39.31] <Tercis> "There were no slaves in Calcis' army, were there Repriever."
[20:40.00] <+Repriever> "No."
[20:40.21] * You are now known as Delia
[20:40.29] <Delia> "We took in millions that weren't part of her army."
[20:40.33] <Delia> "Arrangements had to be made."
[20:40.39] <+Repriever> "Elydians were free born."
[20:40.49] <+Repriever> "You bound them against the words of Astara."
[20:40.53] <Delia> "As you never stop telling us."
[20:41.15] <Delia> "Alright, let's say we do let go of the slaves."
[20:41.16] <+Repriever> "I am Her voice, and I speak."
[20:41.24] <Delia> "How will you compensate the noble houses?"
[20:41.42] <+Repriever> "With their lives."
[20:42.15] <Delia> "Funny, I already have that."
[20:42.32] <+Repriever> "It is surprisingly easy to take away."
[20:42.50] <Delia> "Slavery made Calcis, so it can't be that bad."
[20:42.51] <Delia> "Eh?"
[20:42.58] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:43.10] <Plainchant> "This is probably not the time for that logic, Delia."
[20:43.11] * Repriever stops in the hall, and stares coldly at Delia.
[20:43.26] * Plainchant looks back.
[20:43.33] <Plainchant> "Both of you."
[20:43.37] <Plainchant> "Please."
[20:43.44] * You are now known as Delia
[20:44.11] <+Repriever> "This queendom is a backwater built on stolen lives and broken souls."
[20:44.22] <+Repriever> "A real empire doesn't need slaves."
[20:44.30] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:44.33] * Plainchant sighs.
[20:44.38] * You are now known as Delia
[20:44.47] <+Repriever> "Do you want to survive, Delia Celtari?"
[20:44.50] <Delia> "Just a lot of holy men to tell us what to do, right."
[20:44.57] <Delia> "Listen, I already pledged loyalty."
[20:45.09] <Delia> "But you won't always be here."
[20:45.17] <Delia> "You're going to your little Ritual, and what then?"
[20:45.17] <+Shala> "You'll never do the slave thing as successfully as your enemies"
[20:45.40] <Delia> "Once you aren't here, it's Celtari that has to enforce this freedom edict."
[20:45.49] <Delia> "We have to pay for it and enforce it."
[20:46.13] <+Repriever> "We can be anywhere at any time."
[20:46.20] <+Repriever> "No ward can stop us."
[20:46.36] <Delia> "And what about ten years from now? Twenty? Fifty?"
[20:46.51] <Delia> "The last Five made promises too."
[20:46.51] <+Repriever> "Built on strong foundations it'll stand."
[20:47.04] <Delia> "You need to think about how to avoid civil war after you're gone."
[20:47.19] <Delia> "Or those precious slaves will be turned into blood in the streets."
[20:47.36] <+Repriever> "We'll see about that."
[20:47.48] <Delia> "Compensate the noble houses."
[20:47.57] <Delia> "Figure it fucking out. Get some of that nice dragon treasure."
[20:48.05] <Delia> "Buy them off and you're golden."
[20:48.22] <+Kir> [brb bathroom]
[20:48.36] * Repriever doesn't answer to that.
[20:48.58] <Delia> "My queen, good to see you alive again. I need to pacify the city."
[20:49.09] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:49.25] <Tercis> "Keep the peace fairly, Delia. No abuses, even criminals must be tried."
[20:49.35] <Tercis> "...as you say."
[20:49.41] <Tercis> [replies Delia.]
[20:49.44] * You are now known as Delia
[20:49.54] * Delia stalks off, and her women follow.
[20:50.04] <+Repriever> "Be better than those around you, Delia."
[20:50.13] * Repriever says after her.
[20:50.35] * Delia mumbles something that's not quite audible.
[20:50.58] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:51.06] <Tercis> "I didn't miss this part, I think."
[20:51.22] <+Repriever> "I'm not the best diplomat."
[20:52.08] <+Repriever> "The regency ruled Elydia, and the palatines enforced its will. Satraps who stepped out of line were dealt with."
[20:52.47] <Tercis> "Obedience or death has never been my strength."
[20:52.49] <+Repriever> "When the war comes there will be betrayal."
[20:53.04] <Tercis> "I am not a poor spearwoman, but taking the field was never my desire."
[20:53.11] <+Repriever> "Showing the people the light is our only hope."
[20:53.22] <Tercis> "And...blood makes me sick, I'm ashamed to admit."
[20:53.24] * Kir (6b4de0aa@ircip2.mibbit.com) Quit (Quit: ＋http://www.mibbit.com， ajax IRC Client)
[20:53.38] * You are now known as Plainchant
[20:53.41] * Plainchant reaches her chambers.
[20:53.50] <Plainchant> "Repriever, may I have some time alone with the Queen?"
[20:54.05] * Repriever agrees.
[20:54.12] <Plainchant> "I'm sure you need to get back to the others as well."
[20:54.24] * Plainchant passes him a set of sparkstones.
[20:54.31] <Plainchant> "Spark me at a moment's need."
[20:54.43] <+Repriever> "You may not like what I've said, or agree with it, but it must happen if we are to make it through this."
[20:54.52] <Plainchant> "I do agree with it."
[20:55.01] <Plainchant> "But I also agree that Delia is right about the nobles disliking it."
[20:55.20] <+Repriever> "All the evils we face mock our freedoms."
[20:55.33] <+Repriever> "But the stars guide, Plainchant."
[20:55.40] <Plainchant> "Until we can strengthen the power of the crown, we unfortunately have to rely on their contributions."
[20:55.44] <+Repriever> "Look up tonight and see for yourself."
[20:55.53] * Plainchant lets out a long sigh.
[20:56.02] <Plainchant> "This blue is incredible."
[20:56.09] <Plainchant> "Is it always this color?"
[20:56.35] <+Repriever> "It shifts like the leaves in fall, when the sun is low or the weather just right."
[20:57.00] <+Repriever> "You will see every color, and countless more you've never dreamed of."
[20:58.00] <+Repriever> "Wait for a storm, then you will see Calcis in her glory."
[20:58.13] * Repriever looks to Shala, preparing to depart.
[20:58.51] * You are now known as Tercis
[20:58.55] <+Shala> "Lucky me, then. I don't need to wait."
[20:58.57] <Tercis> "Repriever!"
[20:59.07] <+Repriever> "My queen."
[20:59.14] <Tercis> "I owe you an unpayable debt."
[20:59.40] <+Repriever> "You have my wish."
[20:59.53] <Tercis> "It will be done."
[21:00.15] <+Repriever> "Trust no one, Tercis, not even me."
[21:00.26] * Repriever leaves with a nod of his head.
[21:01.41] * Repriever is alone in the hall with Shala on the long walk back.
[21:02.22] * Shala feels a wave of dawning angst wash over her
[21:02.36] <+Shala> "Repriever. I think you've held it long enough."
[21:02.44] <+Repriever> "What's that?"
[21:02.58] * Repriever clenches the fist at his side.
[21:03.09] <+Shala> "I'm not going to bargain, paladin."
[21:03.31] <+Shala> "YOU are the one who told me how dangerous it would be in your hands."
[21:03.55] * Repriever makes an agreeing noise.
[21:04.14] <+Shala> "So, just hand it back, and we'll save another round of trouble."
[21:04.34] * Repriever looks at the hand, slowing his gait.
[21:05.09] <+Repriever> "With this we saved a people."
[21:05.19] <+Shala> "With it, we'll save many more."
[21:05.54] * Shala holds out her hand
[21:06.00] * Repriever flexes his fingers.
[21:06.10] <+Repriever> ?roll 1d20+15
[21:06.10] <%tBot> Repriever: 35 ([20] +15)
[21:06.20] <+Shala> [well...there it is]
[21:06.50] <Tercis> The Essence of Air, in it's Azri-built globe, flies out of your fingers as the anxiety intensifies.
[21:07.04] <Tercis> It lands in Repriever's hand, as the Key glows a faint blue-white.
[21:07.05] * You are now known as DM
[21:07.32] * Repriever smirks, darkly.
[21:07.54] <+Repriever> "You could have stopped Azri."
[21:08.51] <+Repriever> "What am I?" he says to the Key.
[21:09.04] * azale_ (IceChat9@cpe-97-98-83-80.stx.res.rr.com) has joined channel #nesdnd
[21:09.25] * azale_ is now known as Shala_
[21:09.28] * Shala_ feels an unbelievable relief, a cool breeze pass through her body
[21:09.33] * DM sets mode +v Shala_ for #nesdnd
[21:09.38] <DM> It is over, for a moment.
[21:10.16] * Repriever relaxes his grip on the essence and Key.
[21:10.22] * Shala (IceChat9@cpe-97-98-83-80.stx.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds)
[21:10.33] <DM> The Essence suddenly glows an INTENSE white.
[21:10.54] <DM> And a lightning spark arcs from Repriever's hand to his other hand.
[21:11.16] <DM> The Key makes a slight screeching sound and skitters across the floor with a metallic clatter.
[21:11.38] <+Repriever> "Interesting."
[21:11.54] <+Repriever> "Pick it up, Shala."
[21:12.01] <DM> It looks just like a Key again.
[21:12.44] * Shala_ stoops to take it
[21:12.55] <+Melchior> [ROLL INITIATIVE]
[21:12.56] <+Repriever> "Of course," he says to himself.
[21:13.18] <+Shala_> "I don't enjoy this joke"
[21:13.26] * Shala_ tries to take the edge off her sudden fear
[21:13.41] * Repriever stills holds Air, crackling in his palm.
[21:14.14] <+Shala_> [what happened when i left right after the roll lol]
[21:14.25] <+Repriever> [yeah an important bit of info]
[21:15.54] * Repriever has twitches cross his face as he holds a silent conversation.
[21:16.04] <DM> [The Essence flew out of your fingers]
[21:16.12] <DM> [Repriever got it, and then it...attacked? the Key somehow]
[21:16.15] <+Shala_> [out of mine back to his?]
[21:16.18] <DM> [yep]
[21:16.32] <DM> [the lightning bolt knocked the Key out of Repriever's fingers]
[21:16.58] <+Repriever> [also I said "You could have stopped Azri" after taking the essence with the key]
[21:17.38] <+Shala_> [so currently, the key is on the ground and he has the essence orb]
[21:17.49] <+Repriever> [yep]
[21:18.36] * Repriever has a suddenly troubled expression.
[21:19.45] * Repriever grows angry, then looks to Shala just long enough to toss the essence to her.
[21:20.25] * Shala_ clumsily conceals the beginning of her gesture to disarm him
[21:20.29] <+Repriever> "Do your job, Calcis."
[21:20.42] * Repriever says, upset.
[21:21.30] * You are now known as Kallias
[21:21.32] * Repriever continues walking.
[21:21.36] <Kallias> "Well, it looks like you two are having a lovely day."
[21:21.51] <Kallias> "You succeeded."
[21:22.12] <+Repriever> "You find the worst moments to pop out of a wall."
[21:22.52] <Kallias> "My enemies seem to think the same."
[21:23.12] <Kallias> "Akvan and Melchior have been hard at work."
[21:23.28] <Kallias> "I'd like to discuss a few matters with you all together."
[21:23.34] * Repriever didn't stop moving, still going toward wherever they are.
[21:23.36] * Kir (6b4de0aa@ircip2.mibbit.com) has joined channel #nesdnd
[21:24.34] * Kallias sets mode +v Kir for #nesdnd
[21:24.50] <Kallias> "Back to the roof, where so much of our intricate spellwork seems to occur for some indiscernible reason."
[21:25.34] <Kallias> "And while we're here..."
[21:25.50] <Kallias> "I need to ask you a question, Repriever."
[21:26.42] <Kallias> "Do you want Couplet back, or not."
[21:26.59] <Kallias> "She's been living in the water city."
[21:27.11] <Kallias> "But as soon as word spreads of your return, she will likely try to come here."
[21:27.35] * Repriever really doesn't like Kallias' conversational segues.
[21:27.49] <+Repriever> "Couplet will remain where she is. That's an order."
[21:28.01] <Kallias> "I was worried you'd say that."
[21:28.30] <Kallias> "She is an influence, Repriever."
[21:28.44] <+Repriever> "On whom?"
[21:28.50] <Kallias> "Not on whom."
[21:28.54] <Kallias> "Of whom."
[21:29.15] <+Repriever> "What's been done?"
[21:29.25] <Kallias> "I have enough issues monitoring all of the deviants Julia of Pyleth may have contacted."
[21:30.01] <Kallias> "Couplet, on the other hand, has become quite the advocate of Carcephon."
[21:30.42] <Kallias> "Can you see how this is problematic?"
[21:30.49] <+Repriever> "Yeah."
[21:31.02] <+Repriever> [is there any furniture nearby?]
[21:31.26] <Kallias> There's a little plush red ottoman with dark brown legs.
[21:31.39] <Kallias> Resting bench for the elderly, maybe.
[21:31.40] <+Melchior> [Repriever Table'sbane]
[21:31.59] * Repriever clutches the ottoman in his cosmic hand, flexing the power, and throws it violently down the hall.
[21:32.22] * Kallias looks to the side.
[21:32.31] <Kallias> "I see where she gets it from."
[21:32.31] * Kir jerks up from his reading somewhere down the hallways
[21:32.52] * Repriever huffs and breathes, trying not to say what he wants to say right now.
[21:33.22] <Kallias> "Given the situation in the Empire, the girl is especially vulnerable."
[21:33.30] <Kallias> "And she has grown stronger."
[21:33.49] <+Repriever> "I need to speak with the others."
[21:33.54] <Kallias> "I don't want to be forced to arrest her, Repriever. It would be better if you took her away."
[21:34.12] <Kallias> "I don't want a fire cult spreading as well."
[21:34.31] <Kallias> "You understand."
[21:34.49] <+Repriever> "Yes. Yes."
[21:34.50] <+Akvan> [ D: ]
[21:35.05] * Repriever searches out Mel, Kir, and Akvan.
[21:35.17] <Kallias> You catch up with Kir just before reaching the roof.
[21:35.25] <Kallias> You have a few moments to talk before reaching Akvan and Mel.
[21:35.34] <+Repriever> "The queen's alive."
[21:36.16] * Repriever lofts the sparkstones.
[21:36.29] <+Repriever> "I've got a set now. You'll have to teach me how to use them."
[21:37.19] * You are now known as DM
[21:37.31] <DM> You come out onto the roof, and see Whitelay looking over Mel's shoulder as she draws.
[21:37.55] <DM> He has also directed a few novices to spread out massive pieces of wax paper, on which they are sketching a larger version of Mel's spell on the huge sheets.
[21:38.15] <+Melchior> "...would be the tertiary mediation, yes, earth."
[21:38.39] * Akvan stands from his sitting position on the wall as Preev comes in
[21:38.46] * You are now known as Whitelay
[21:38.47] <+Akvan> "We need to go help her brother."
[21:38.50] <Whitelay> "Which makes sense."
[21:38.51] * Repriever tries to center himself before they notice.
[21:39.04] <+Akvan> "We can't wait."
[21:39.12] <+Melchior> "The tertiary mediation is chained to the primary with void, it's a bit of a tricky balance working out optimal power expenditure between these two systems- lots of energy to void to lift heavy stone, or less energy to void to lift lighter stone."
[21:39.27] * Repriever gives Akvan an uncertain expression.
[21:39.28] <+Melchior> "It really depends on the conversion efficiency we can get."
[21:39.42] <+Repriever> "The queen's fine."
[21:39.46] * Repriever says behind Mel.
[21:39.46] <+Melchior> ?roll 1d20+18
[21:39.46] <%tBot> Melchior: 24 ([6] +18)
[21:39.48] <Whitelay> "We need the pylons themselves to be able to understand the elemental ley-flows."
[21:39.59] <Whitelay> "You see, this almost needs to be customized to match the geology of the soil by the pylon."
[21:40.03] * Akvan walks over to preev
[21:40.07] <+Akvan> "How long will we be here?
[21:40.08] <+Akvan> "
[21:40.23] <Whitelay> "And shifts, as well...the spell would have to almost be self-aware to manage elemental shifts."
[21:40.25] <+Melchior> "If it's inscribed to an average of the geology of the area we'll still get reasonable efficiency."
[21:40.30] <Whitelay> "Mmm..."
[21:40.34] <+Repriever> "Can't say. That... took a lot out of me."
[21:40.38] <Whitelay> "But what if..."
[21:40.41] <+Repriever> "And this... I don't know how long this will take."
[21:40.41] <+Melchior> "Mm?"
[21:40.46] <+Akvan> "There's other allies we need... to court"
[21:40.52] <Whitelay> "I heard a rumor from the Council..."
[21:40.53] <+Melchior> [that roll was a knowledge arcana guess at efficiencies btw]
[21:41.07] <Whitelay> "That you were involved in the creation of a thinking spell."
[21:41.25] <Whitelay> "We wouldn't need true sentience, but if each pylon had a measure of intelligence to independently adjust to its own local geology..."
[21:41.26] * Repriever finds a place to sit nearby to wait.
[21:41.28] <Whitelay> "Is that even possible?"
[21:41.35] <+Repriever> [brb water]
[21:41.50] * Melchior pauses.
[21:41.52] <+Melchior> "Yes."
[21:41.56] <+Melchior> "Do you know of the Morningstar?"
[21:42.01] <+Melchior> "Amutat?"
[21:42.19] <Whitelay> "Only as the power that controls the Citadel's deepest spells."
[21:42.29] <Whitelay> "They do not give such secrets to outsiders."
[21:42.49] <+Melchior> "...long ago, a branch of myself made it."
[21:43.00] * Whitelay 's hand goes to his mouth.
[21:43.10] <+Melchior> "She was a creation of the founder of Kesh."
[21:43.26] <+Melchior> "The great artificial mind that governed the city, before its fall."
[21:43.45] * Repriever speaks quietly with Akvan.
[21:43.57] <+Melchior> "What I didn't know is that its creator was Maelakar Baltaspoka... who the Keshites knew as Mellakarta."
[21:44.23] <Whitelay> "Mellakarta..."
[21:44.49] <Whitelay> "Mahalakarta is the oldest form of that name I have seen written."
[21:45.04] <Whitelay> "Are you saying that there are yet older forms?"
[21:45.11] <Whitelay> "And that Kesh was a real place?"
[21:45.28] <+Melchior> "Well... it's a diversion from the task at hand, but certainly Maelakar of the Kieli predates Mellakarta."
[21:45.40] <+Melchior> "I must emphasize though... time is not linear, it branches."
[21:45.43] <Whitelay> "That must have been ten thousand years ago."
[21:45.56] <+Melchior> "It is possible that some things happened in my experience that did not happen in the thread of reality that we live in now."
[21:46.28] * Whitelay seems at a loss for words for a moment.
[21:46.34] <+Melchior> But the Sinhareva were a Kieli tribe, who existed long ago, simple and hardy warriors and hunters.
[21:46.49] <+Melchior> I was married once... the only time I can remember it. But I was lost to them.
[21:46.59] <+Melchior> Later I returned to that place.
[21:47.13] <+Melchior> The name of Kesh is rooted in Kieliesh, if I recall correctly.
[21:47.17] <+Melchior> There is an elf who knows."
[21:47.40] <Whitelay> "What was that elf's name?"
[21:48.11] * Melchior thinks back into another hazy, half-remembered life, another time.
[21:48.26] * Melchior burns 2 focus on Sudden Insight.
[21:48.57] * Melchior attempts to pierce the veil of other lives, other branches, to recover clarity from this point, memories of a person who is not quite herself.
[21:50.48] <+Melchior> "He was... a pine elf."
[21:50.58] <+Melchior> "Agh, I'm not grasping his name."
[21:51.33] * Melchior pores over her memories.
[21:52.00] * Kir (6b4de0aa@ircip2.mibbit.com) Quit (Quit: ＋http://www.mibbit.com， ajax IRC Client)
[21:52.07] * Melchior goes calm.
[21:52.09] <+Melchior> "Lend."
[21:52.16] * Kir (6b4de0aa@ircip2.mibbit.com) has joined channel #nesdnd
[21:52.58] <Whitelay> "Sounds a lot like land."
[21:53.18] <Whitelay> "At any rate...I think we'll need to send out surveyors, to determine ideal places to bury these pylons."
[21:53.27] <Whitelay> "It will take a few days, even with portals."
[21:53.54] <+Melchior> "I would not see it fit to run this ritual without preparation and tests. I'll see what I can do."
[21:54.04] <+Melchior> "Ah, what we could do with the essence of earth right now..."
[21:54.10] <Whitelay> "People will be up in arms if we bury them randomly in their homes and lands."
[21:54.19] <Whitelay> "And I know we want to be better than Azri."
[21:54.31] <Whitelay> "We also need to give word to anyone still at sea or near the coast."
[21:54.54] <+Melchior> "I am working on one system in the quaternary mediation
[21:55.09] <+Melchior> where we can construct a bridge of water, to allow access of the fleet to the seas."
[21:55.46] <Whitelay> "We're going to need to make a few of those water gems, in addition."
[21:56.06] <Whitelay> "Do you think you can make other elemental gems to store and transfer the spell energy, even without the appropriate essence?"
[21:56.47] <+Melchior> "I don't have the essence of void, but I have experience with my gauntlet, which will have to do."
[21:56.59] <+Melchior> "Essences can be mightily empowering, but they do not outright override the laws of magic."
[21:57.02] * Whitelay sets mode +v Kir for #nesdnd
[21:57.06] <+Melchior> "They ain't wish."
[21:57.08] * Melchior winks.
[21:57.14] * Whitelay chuckles.
[21:57.21] <Whitelay> "Alright, we'll be hard at work."
[21:57.40] <Whitelay> "In...a week or so, we'll try to have everything ready."
[21:57.48] <+Melchior> "Yes, I will conduct tests."
[21:57.54] <+Melchior> "Oh how I wish Penumbra were here."
[21:58.15] <+Melchior> "I /can/ work with void, I've... made things with it before."
[21:58.27] <+Melchior> "But I'm a craftswoman. She would be an artist."
[21:58.43] <Whitelay> "...where is the Penumbra?"
[21:59.05] <+Melchior> "I do not know and would not see it appropriate to scry her."
[21:59.11] <+Melchior> "She is searching, somewhere, elsewhere."
[22:00.02] <Whitelay> "I see."
[22:00.10] <Whitelay> "May her paths bring her a return, soon."
[22:01.14] * Melchior nods.
[22:01.27] <+Melchior> "So here lies my plan then."
[22:01.52] <+Melchior> "This fundamental structure requires the installation of one major piece of infrastructure in the pylons."
[22:02.12] <Whitelay> "And the center...can be here, in Tetraea?"
[22:02.14] <+Melchior> "Anywhere that does not have the pylons is not subject to the magical system we will established."
[22:02.29] <+Melchior> "Well that's the key Whitelay... this is not a system where you can knock out one system to knock out everything."
[22:02.33] <+Shala_> "Now, when you say installation..."
[22:03.17] <Whitelay> "How will we..."
[22:03.21] <Whitelay> "Drive the islands, then?"
[22:03.22] <+Melchior> "I do not wish to make a system that can be destroyed by a targeted strike on one single island, so it is made to survive the potential death of an island, horrifying as that concept is."
[22:03.33] <Whitelay> "Mmm."
[22:03.42] <+Melchior> "Each island will have its own control which allows it to directly interface with the enchantment."
[22:04.01] <Whitelay> "If the world is made safe again, hopefully the islands can be made to set down back in the sea where they belong."
[22:04.11] <+Melchior> "Then there is a secondary system for distributing commands- it does not have a defined centerpoint as each point can communicate with each other, but for practical purposes we could establish a command post in Tetraea."
[22:04.24] <+Melchior> "The key is that the secondary system is divorced from the primary."
[22:04.31] <Whitelay> "I see."
[22:04.39] <+Melchior> "Orders are issued through the secondary system, then applied locally."
[22:04.54] <+Melchior> "It prevents one skilled mancer- and sadly we may find ourselvers fighting /more/ than one skilled mancer-"
[22:05.17] <+Melchior> "From hijacking the whole system at once, or exploiting a vulnerability to send everything crashing down."
[22:05.24] <+Melchior> "And the system is designed to land- look here."
[22:05.43] * Melchior points to the tertiary mediation, earth, and shows the initial drafts for a landing sequence.
[22:06.37] <+Melchior> "Essentially it allows us to lower the islands into their desired position, and then transfers ley energy into a system which generates rock, filling the emptiness beneath until the island is solidly founded."
[22:07.03] <+Melchior> "If we wished to add a... quintinary fire circuit we could potentially even make it molten, to better anchor the island in place for the long term."
[22:07.23] * You are now known as Kallias
[22:07.32] <Kallias> "Why don't we avoid making a fire circuit, for now."
[22:07.46] <Kallias> "Fire is rather too easily...tampered with in the current political situation."
[22:08.00] <+Melchior> "Is there an issue I'm not in the loop on?"
[22:08.18] * Melchior briefly fights off a giggle at 'loop' punnery.
[22:08.31] <Kallias> "Wouldn't we want to avoid a certain fire goddess deciding to meddle?"
[22:08.42] * Kallias says quietly, observing Akvan and Repriever far away.
[22:09.26] <+Melchior> "Well, the nice thing about a hierarchical spell is that it only channels to a certain subsystem when you set it to do so."
[22:09.43] <+Shala_> "So no, we'll be fine from the lizards"
[22:10.05] <+Melchior> "So the infrastructure for such a spell could be present, but unused until political situations change."
[22:10.16] <Kallias> "Hmm."
[22:10.19] <Kallias> "Alright."
[22:10.21] <+Melchior> "Or it could be added in manually later. I'm sure the landing of the isles would be quite an affair."
[22:10.31] <Kallias> "I'll want to check the spellwork, but I'll allow it."
[22:10.56] <+Melchior> "Of course I'd appreciate your proofreading."
[22:11.09] <+Melchior> "First order of business though, is prototyping a pylon."
[22:11.32] * You are now known as Whitelay
[22:11.37] <Whitelay> "I'm still a bit concerned, though."
[22:11.53] <Whitelay> "What prevents a trusted operator from taking control of an autonomous island to their own benefit?"
[22:12.02] <Whitelay> "I think we should work some sort of proximity control in."
[22:12.19] <Whitelay> "If the islands get too close to each other...or too far away, a failsafe should activate."
[22:12.41] <+Melchior> "That is a fairly trivial magical matter, but an important matter of design. The pylons would not have unlimited range."
[22:13.06] <+Melchior> "An island that went off on its own would quickly cut itself off from the primary loop network of the pylons."
[22:13.20] <Whitelay> "Floating down to the ground, yes..."
[22:13.26] <+Melchior> "This would have a slight negative impact on the other islands, but would be disastrous for the one that left."
[22:13.31] <Whitelay> "But what if it's over a volcano, or a mountain range?"
[22:13.34] <+Melchior> "It would use quicker than it generated."
[22:13.50] <Whitelay> "What if the intent of the hijacker is to kill the people on board by landing the island somewhere unsafe?"
[22:14.00] <Whitelay> "Unlikely, but possible."
[22:14.17] <+Shala_> [brb cuting pizza]
[22:14.47] <+Melchior> "Hmm, a system could remove everything but the primary mediation if its connection became too tenuous... and then it could be tethered to a secondary mediation wind blowing it back towards the main cluster."
[22:15.15] <+Melchior> "We would lose flexibility and the ability to willingly scatter the islands, however."
[22:15.26] <Whitelay> "I think a system allowing the network to temporarily reassert control over the rogue individual island would be ideal."
[22:15.32] <+Melchior> "Imagine a situation where we formed a diaspora, in a worst-case scenario."
[22:15.39] <Whitelay> "No, no, we could still allow that, if it was consensus among the network..."
[22:15.51] <Whitelay> "You see, if the individual island-controlling spells communicate with one another..."
[22:16.00] <+Melchior> "Yes, but any system that allows centralized authority over an individual rogue can also be used to hijack the behaviour of any individual."
[22:16.09] * Melchior quiets down and listens.
[22:16.12] <Whitelay> "They would all scatter if it was a consensus decision..."
[22:16.40] <Whitelay> "And assert control over a rogue island with consensus as well."
[22:16.51] <+Melchior> "Then that could be the resolution."
[22:17.00] <Whitelay> "We need to consider how the minds of the spells integrate with their human operators, as well..."
[22:17.10] <Whitelay> "...if that is the right way to think of it."
[22:17.19] <+Melchior> "Firstly, an automated system pushes any island that strays too far away back towards the main archipelago will exist."
[22:17.25] <Whitelay> "The spells themselves can be made to prioritize the safety of the Calcissi, correct?"
[22:18.06] <+Melchior> "It's a 'dumb' system, but it will work simply enough. To allow for scattering a consensus -1 vote could break this override."
[22:18.25] <+Melchior> "Safety in what way? Of the operators or of the population as a whole?"
[22:18.44] * Melchior points to several areas on the wax paper diagrams.
[22:19.23] <Whitelay> "I've never thought to give a spell emotions or desires...if the glyphs are even known, making them work...."
[22:19.39] <Whitelay> "But if it were possible, they would be made to make decisions that prioritize the safety of their population."
[22:19.46] <+Melchior> "The inputs to the primary loop network are fairly minimal, and can be influenced at each local site here, through manually adjusting this switch that adjusts the openness of the Boone valve."
[22:20.07] <+Melchior> "Well we discussed giving the pylons a form of simple sentience."
[22:20.13] <Whitelay> "To take orders from the human operators, but to have parameters to override."
[22:20.17] <+Melchior> "I might propose that of a mother mammal."
[22:20.30] <Whitelay> "Yes, the island control centers would need a higher order intelligence than that of the individual pylons..."
[22:20.32] <+Melchior> "A desire to see a maximal number of children survive."
[22:20.41] <Whitelay> "Mmm."
[22:20.45] <+Melchior> "And to see them survive in a form that is true to themselves."
[22:21.04] <+Melchior> "Not as animate corpses, or living statuary, or anything untoward like that."
[22:21.39] <+Melchior> "But I do fear creating something too intelligent."
[22:21.39] <Whitelay> "Naturally."
[22:21.59] <+Melchior> "I think it is important that these systems can be run by human beings or other intelligent mortals."
[22:22.17] <Whitelay> "Perhaps you can strongly encode a desire to serve into it?"
[22:22.19] <+Kir> "Mother animal in herd"
[22:22.28] <+Kir> "Stays close to other islands, other mothers"
[22:22.34] <+Kir> "Takes care of own children"
[22:22.46] <+Kir> "Maybe cow?"
[22:22.48] <+Melchior> "If you would have me create a protective goddess-mind for the Calcissi, I would fear that it may grow over time."
[22:23.02] <Whitelay> "Well, not one."
[22:23.06] <+Melchior> "As morningstar grew from a simple artificial mind to... the mightiest being in a citadel of abjurers."
[22:23.32] <Whitelay> "Five."
[22:23.38] <+Shala_> [back]
[22:23.41] <Whitelay> "Well, six if we can break off that one bit of hte peninsula."
[22:23.51] <Whitelay> "Seven, I suppose, if we want to take Pyleth from the mainland."
[22:24.17] <Whitelay> "Now..."
[22:24.22] <Whitelay> "Tell me of the growth of Morningstar."
[22:24.26] <Whitelay> "Did it do that on its own?"
[22:24.34] <Whitelay> "Or were those incremental developments that you built onto it?"
[22:25.02] <+Melchior> "Morningstar did not so do it on its own, but rather was given the ability to engreaten herself."
[22:25.29] <+Melchior> "She directed the Abjurers to provide her with more power, and they formed a symbiosis of sorts."
[22:25.33] <Whitelay> "I think Kir is correct."
[22:25.48] <Whitelay> "If we keep the desires of the island-minds simple...diffuse."
[22:25.58] <Whitelay> "Give them a sense of the other but perhaps not a sense of themselves."
[22:26.04] <Whitelay> "They will protect without seeking to grow."
[22:26.14] <+Melchior> "There are creatures in the land of the Kieli, like cattle, who form a protective circle around their young when threatened."
[22:26.57] <+Melchior> ＋http://www.vancouversun.com/cms/binary/6535730.jpg，
[22:27.21] <+Melchior> "Not skittish beasts, not prone to panic, but stoic and steady."
[22:27.31] <+Melchior> "It would be that mind that we would wish to program into these minds."
[22:27.43] <Whitelay> "It is something you'll have to work on."
[22:27.52] <Whitelay> "There are no spell books here on the making of minds."
[22:27.56] <Whitelay> "Perhaps the Towers..."
[22:28.21] <+Melchior> "The Citadel stands with us, I suspect they could transmit what they have written of Amutat."
[22:29.02] <Whitelay> "And perhaps..."
[22:29.05] <Whitelay> "Amutat itself?"
[22:29.17] <+Melchior> "Yes."
[22:29.24] <Whitelay> "I did not know the Morningstar was a person."
[22:29.48] <+Melchior> "Not all people are purely flesh and bone."
[22:29.51] <Whitelay> "But from what you have said, it seems eager to help."
[22:30.02] <Whitelay> "I suppose we are lucky it didn't turn evil."
[22:30.09] <+Melchior> "At Amutat's core is the idea of protection."
[22:30.26] <+Melchior> "She was a protector of a city, and succeeded for a very long time... but no city stands forever."
[22:30.43] <+Melchior> "You would understand why she would be such a treasure and ally to the abjurers."
[22:30.59] <Whitelay> "And why she has hidden the idea of herself."
[22:32.00] <+Akvan> [BRB, gotta walk the dog]
[22:32.03] <+Melchior> "She was always a wall and foundation... never the throne and tower itself, if you follow."
[22:32.24] * Akvan and preev are leaning near one of the far walls
[22:32.45] * Repriever finds a lull in the conversation and gets up to pace and stretch his legs.
[22:33.05] <+Melchior> "But Shala, Repriever."
[22:33.21] * You are now known as Kallias
[22:33.26] <+Melchior> "I'm sorry, I've been talking shop for so long- what news do you have?"
[22:33.27] * Kallias is sitting nearby, taking tea on a garden bench.
[22:33.42] <+Repriever> "Oh, nothing."
[22:33.54] * Akvan stays sitting, cross legged and leaning against the wall
[22:33.54] <+Repriever> "Tercis is resting in Plainchant's room."
[22:34.02] <+Shala_> "I despise explaining my thinking, so it's good Melchior does it enough for both of us"
[22:34.05] <+Shala_> "Oh yes, and that"
[22:34.16] <+Shala_> "And absolutely nothing else happened1"
[22:34.33] <Kallias> "I have some news to share."
[22:34.33] * Repriever eyes Shala as he paces around.
[22:34.39] <Kallias> "If you're interested, Melchior."
[22:34.43] * Kallias quietly sips his tea.
[22:34.51] <Kallias> "I suspect Repriever may be."
[22:35.08] <+Melchior> "By all means. And my goodness, I hope you didn't have to make promises to any awful extraplanar demigods to get her back this time."
[22:35.22] <+Shala_> "Might have gone smoother if we had"
[22:35.40] <+Shala_> "And really, it depends on your opinion of Calcis"
[22:36.01] * Repriever snorts disappointedly.
[22:36.17] * Repriever goes to Kallias' table and grabs some food.
[22:36.20] <+Melchior> "Cal's Cal. What'd she do?"
[22:36.38] <Kallias> "Oh yes, please, help yourself."
[22:36.40] <+Repriever> [he better have tea sandwiches]
[22:36.44] <Kallias> "This is definitely not just my lunch."
[22:36.44] <+Repriever> [so help me astara]
[22:36.58] <Kallias> [yes, he's got some nice triangle sandwiches]
[22:37.10] <+Shala_> "She plucked her from heaven, but heaven's not as bustling as the nethersphere apparently"
[22:37.12] <+Repriever> "Mmm."
[22:37.17] <Kallias> "Well, a late lunch, I suppose."
[22:37.19] <+Shala_> "She came back a bit traumatized"
[22:37.39] <+Melchior> "Seeing your ultimate end does tend to do that."
[22:37.43] <+Repriever> "Delia knelt."
[22:37.48] <+Repriever> "Also, I freed the slaves."
[22:37.55] * Repriever munches a sandwich.
[22:37.58] <Kallias> "In principle."
[22:37.59] * Melchior absentmindedly taps at the skull she got from herself when she saw the end of all things.
[22:38.08] <Kallias> "Implementation will be a bit tricky, but we'll get there."
[22:38.21] <Kallias> "If you could bring back some funds, it would ease the way, certainly."
[22:38.42] <+Melchior> "Implementation of the pylons?"
[22:38.48] <Kallias> "Of freeing the slaves."
[22:38.55] <Kallias> "Pylons are much easier than politics, I'm afraid."
[22:39.02] <+Repriever> "They demand payment for a god-given right."
[22:39.26] <Kallias> "God-given or not, the economic impact could be substantial."
[22:39.27] <+Melchior> "Tell them that the slaves are needed to be free, so that they might pray and keep the isles afloat?"
[22:39.57] <+Repriever> "A war economy."
[22:40.06] <Kallias> "As a priest, I can promise you that slaves pray as much as the free."
[22:40.09] <+Repriever> "You're not sustaining a nobility's luxury anymore."
[22:40.37] <+Melchior> "I'm not particularly good at inventing lies."
[22:40.46] <Kallias> "In many cases, the nobility offer slaves to the military, who serve a term in return for their freedom."
[22:40.47] <+Shala_> "It was all very noble and he put up quite a show, I assure you"
[22:40.59] <+Repriever> "There won't be any. The truth will be that the slaves are freed by demand of the stars."
[22:41.17] * Kallias sighs.
[22:41.24] <Kallias> "We will do it."
[22:41.36] <+Repriever> "The nobility can be handled separately."
[22:41.45] <+Repriever> "Steel or gold, I don't give a shit."
[22:41.55] <Kallias> "Now."
[22:42.01] <Kallias> "As to the matter of Illian."
[22:42.18] * Melchior mutters about not liking governance and refines her blueprints.
[22:42.50] <Kallias> "After the fall of his city of Khizunadh, he fell into much disgrace with his father."
[22:43.12] <Kallias> "It was a great victory for the Apastron, and handed over much of the western Empire to the dead."
[22:43.29] <Kallias> "Following that, he took part in the joint expedition with his siblings."
[22:43.40] <Kallias> "The Apastron withdrew north, as you know."
[22:44.02] <Kallias> "So his father ordered him to follow, and avenge his shame by protecting the northern frontier."
[22:44.13] <Kallias> "This brought him to Ekrat, on the Roah."
[22:44.16] * Kir absentmindedly grabs a sandwich, then begins to stare at a candle
[22:44.23] <Kallias> "Once the Empire's largest northern city."
[22:44.32] <Kallias> The flame flickers, Kir, in different directions.
[22:44.54] <Kallias> "But now the Apastron urges the ice south."
[22:44.55] * Repriever grabs a seat near Kallias' table.
[22:45.14] <Kallias> "He has encircled Ekrat with glacier walls, miles high."
[22:45.34] <Kallias> "The city itself would have been covered, but that Illian uses his power to melt the ice around."
[22:45.39] <Kallias> "But he is trapped."
[22:45.49] <Kallias> "Not by the ice, the dragon has the power to flee."
[22:45.53] <Kallias> "But by his honor."
[22:46.03] <Kallias> "He will not suffer a second defeat to the Apastron."
[22:46.10] <+Repriever> "Hm."
[22:46.32] <+Melchior> "I don't imagine that an effort to relieve him would win his loyalty to our cause."
[22:46.34] <+Repriever> "Where did you glean this information."
[22:46.54] <Kallias> "An inquisitor never reveals his sources."
[22:47.03] <Kallias> "But velcirath are just as likely to fall into debt as a human."
[22:47.17] <+Akvan> [BACK]
[22:47.28] <+Repriever> [who else is up here with us? are we on the roof still or inside]
[22:47.37] <Kallias> You're all still on the rooftop gardens.
[22:47.40] * Kir raises his eyes from the candle, slowly bringing them to look at the ceiling
[22:47.43] <Kallias> Whitelay is around, and a few novices, but at a distance.
[22:47.58] <+Kir> [or I guess a treetop rising above the tables
[22:47.59] <+Kir> ]
[22:48.03] <Kallias> There are some guards posted at a distance as well, maybe a few of Kallias' people, but nobody in earshot.
[22:48.21] <+Repriever> "Not point bullshitting anymore."
[22:48.25] <+Repriever> [no*]
[22:48.40] * Repriever moves his arm with the blue torc on it, and tries reaching out to Carcephon.
[22:48.55] <+Repriever> "Can you hear us?"
[22:49.06] <Kallias> There is no answer.
[22:49.18] <+Repriever> "Akvan."
[22:49.28] <+Repriever> "Is she speaking at all?"
[22:49.41] <+Akvan> "Hasn't since she said Ekrat"
[22:49.55] * Melchior starts playing with a few rocks, working with a simple boone valve and her own focus as an energy source, attempting to manage the void conversion.
[22:49.56] * Repriever tunes his arm to fire, eyes shut in prayer.
[22:50.00] <+Akvan> "I... don't want to distract her."
[22:50.02] <+Melchior> [spellcraft]
[22:50.08] <+Melchior> ?roll 1d20+18
[22:50.08] <%tBot> Melchior: 32 ([14] +18)
[22:50.38] <+Shala_> "Can she not multitask?"
[22:51.15] * Repriever concentrates on his prayer.
[22:51.21] <+Akvan> "Not when nursing injury"
[22:51.33] <+Repriever> "There's nothing."
[22:51.39] * Repriever sounds concerned.
[22:51.49] <+Akvan> "So, lets go to Ekrat"
[22:52.04] <+Shala_> "Oh, but we just got here"
[22:52.08] <+Repriever> "The resurrection took a lot out of me."
[22:52.21] <+Repriever> "I need time, and we don't have much."
[22:52.31] <+Akvan> "We have very little time.
[22:52.32] <+Akvan> '"
[22:52.33] <Kallias> "I can get you into Ekrat."
[22:52.50] <Kallias> "I know you can teleport, but there's a more direct route."
[22:53.09] <+Akvan> "What is it?"
[22:53.17] * Kir is still staring at a candle
[22:53.22] <Kallias> "You remember what you saw under Pyleth."
[22:53.37] <Kallias> "Kallos built and abandoned many such gates."
[22:53.44] <+Kir> "That maybe risky...."
[22:53.50] * Kir says absentmindedly
[22:53.58] * Kir still is staring into the flame
[22:54.01] <+Repriever> "The portals have causes jumps in time."
[22:54.04] <+Repriever> [caused]
[22:54.09] <+Kir> "More than that"
[22:54.27] <+Repriever> "Can Kallos pluck us from them?"
[22:54.27] <+Kir> "Kallos knows us now. Knows me. He maybe watches"
[22:54.31] <+Kir> "Intervenes"
[22:54.39] <Kallias> "I've looked at the spellwork."
[22:54.41] <+Akvan> "We can't afford to risk losing time."
[22:54.42] <+Kir> "I do not like to bet on this"
[22:54.50] <+Repriever> "Kir's right."
[22:54.50] <Kallias> "We only activate it when we need to communicate with spies."
[22:54.57] * Kallias shrugs.
[22:55.02] <Kallias> "Do as you will."
[22:55.16] <Kallias> "If you have a better route, take it. I simply thought I would offer."
[22:55.19] <+Kir> "Sparkstones not watched, I think"
[22:55.23] <+Repriever> "How long do we have?"
[22:55.29] <+Repriever> "Mel? Can you see?"
[22:55.37] * Akvan shrugs
[22:55.39] <+Akvan> "Not long?"
[22:56.39] * Repriever rakes his hair.
[22:56.42] <Kallias> "There are other reports, of course."
[22:56.48] <Kallias> "Rumors of civil war."
[22:56.50] <+Akvan> "Not long at all
[22:56.51] <+Akvan> "
[22:57.13] <Kallias> "Blue and gold draconics have been seen in open combat."
[22:57.27] <Kallias> "The other colors have yet to take an open side, with few exceptions."
[22:57.31] <Kallias> "Perhaps waiting."
[22:57.32] <+Repriever> "I put all of myself into Tercis. She's alive because of it. But if I go into that city now I'll be at a disadvantage. Not something I pray for when I think of dragons."
[22:57.32] <+Akvan> "What exceptions?"
[22:57.38] <+Melchior> "How long until what specifically Preev?"
[22:57.42] <+Kir> "I always thought dragons - unified?"
[22:57.49] <+Kir> "Did not know they fight"
[22:57.51] * Akvan looks at kir
[22:57.55] * Akvan is incredulous
[22:58.06] * Kallias smirks.
[22:58.10] * Kir is playing the innocent to get a little more out of Kallias
[22:58.19] <Kallias> "Did you."
[22:58.21] <+Repriever> "I'm unsure, Mel."
[22:58.25] * Kir probably makes this very subtly obvious to the party
[22:58.35] <Kallias> "I can offer you a Restoration, Repriever."
[22:58.47] <Kallias> "If you will have it."
[22:58.54] <+Kir> "You know I do not know this world, heh"
[22:59.03] <+Kir> "Except what you all tell me"
[22:59.04] <+Repriever> "I do not think that will work."
[22:59.17] <+Repriever> "I have stolen from the divines today."
[22:59.29] <+Repriever> "Some efforts are... harsher, on the soul."
[22:59.48] <+Melchior> "If time's what you need, Repriever, then... well, my vision might have given us a place to get you some time."
[23:00.16] <Kallias> "Only rumors, Kir."
[23:00.20] <Kallias> "Very recent rumors."
[23:00.29] * Akvan taps his foot
[23:00.37] <Kallias> "I wonder what could have set Carcephon and Lakhmul against each other so brutally and openly?"
[23:00.47] <Kallias> "Lakhmul has numbers, to be sure."
[23:01.01] <+Repriever> "An awkward dinner party."
[23:01.07] <+Repriever> "Where do you mean, Mel?"
[23:01.14] <Kallias> "He has built up human slave armies to supplement the caps on his tarciraths."
[23:01.20] <+Melchior> "I've got a demiplane of sorts."
[23:01.24] <Kallias> "And he has far more velciraths regardless."
[23:01.33] <+Repriever> "Like your sword trick?"
[23:01.45] <Kallias> "But Carcephon may have more effective elite forces."
[23:01.48] * Melchior places her sugar bowl on the ground.
[23:02.11] <+Melchior> "Of a vaguely similar sort, but disentangled from our timestream. You can spend as much time in there as you need."
[23:02.22] * Akvan taps his foot again
[23:02.26] * Akvan looks at Kallias
[23:02.27] <+Melchior> "Careful though, some of its inhabitants are fond of wrasslin'."
[23:02.31] <+Akvan> "Can you bring Couplet here?"
[23:02.37] * Kallias raises his eyebrows.
[23:02.40] <Kallias> "Yes, I can."
[23:02.47] <Kallias> "I'm sure she'll be quite eager to see you."
[23:02.53] <+Akvan> "We will take her when we leave."
[23:02.55] * Repriever queries Mel with an eyebrow raise.
[23:03.02] <+Repriever> "Show me."
[23:03.17] <Kallias> "Excuse me."
[23:03.26] * Kallias goes to whisper to one of his people, who rushes off.
[23:03.46] * Kir goes to grab another sandwich. What food is there?
[23:03.54] * Melchior moves the sugar bowl off to the side and steps into it.
[23:04.10] <Kallias> There's tomato and cheese sandwiches, there's a carrot and cucumber one...
[23:04.12] <+Repriever> [wait can I follow you freeze time first :p]
[23:04.20] * Melchior enters in through the highly improbable and absurd geometry, and leaves her hand behind to gesture for Repriever to follow.
[23:04.21] <Kallias> There's also a large-ish bowl of vegetable lentil soup.
[23:04.46] <Kallias> Repriever, do you take Melchior's hand?
[23:04.49] * Kir selects a tomato and cheese one, and takes a large bowl of soup. If there's balsamic vinegar, you already know where that gets put
[23:04.51] * Repriever trusts Mel more than enough to do so.
[23:04.56] <Kallias> You vanish.
[23:05.03] <Kallias> And then, in a fraction of a second, you both reappear.
[23:05.06] <Kallias> A day has passed.
[23:05.12] <Kallias> You're really quite refreshed.
[23:05.20] <Kallias> It was a nice break from everything, and you got some much time to talk with Mel.
[23:05.25] <Kallias> so much*
[23:05.41] <Kallias> Feel free to invent whatever else you did in that 24 hours, but really no time passed here.
[23:05.54] * Repriever is visibly weirded out by everyone being midconversation from where we left.
[23:06.06] * Shala_ sits near Kir, occasionally taking a sip from the same soup bowl
[23:06.16] * Shala_ hasnt much of an appetite at the moment
[23:06.18] * Akvan blinks
[23:06.19] <Kallias> "Did it work?"
[23:06.34] * Kir puts a hand over one of hers on the table
[23:06.38] <Kallias> "You both just flashed a bit."
[23:06.50] * Kir stares to a candle again, looking deep into the flame
[23:06.51] <Kallias> [awww :333]
[23:07.19] <Kallias> [so q00t]
[23:07.27] * Shala_ furrows her eyebrows curiously, and stares at the flame with him
[23:07.35] <+Melchior> "Right, where were we again?"
[23:07.40] <+Kir> [;)]
[23:07.43] <+Akvan> "We need to go."
[23:07.48] <+Akvan> "Ekrat"
[23:07.49] <+Melchior> "To Ekrat."
[23:08.39] * Akvan looks at Kallias
[23:08.44] <+Akvan> "Is couplet here?
[23:08.45] <+Akvan> "
[23:08.51] <+Akvan> "We're leaving shortly."
[23:09.09] <Kallias> "Even at my remarkably efficient pace, bringing her from Te Ghlimhe will take an hour or so."
[23:09.18] <Kallias> "I'm assuming you're not using my portal?"
[23:09.25] * Akvan looks at Mel
[23:09.30] <+Kir> The flame grows longer, straight up into the air, before settling back into its normal shape
[23:09.34] * Kir smiles
[23:09.44] <+Shala_> "Now that's a trick and a half."
[23:09.56] * Shala_ says impressed
[23:09.58] * Kir smiles wider
[23:10.24] <+Shala_> "Have you been seeing any other conjurers on the side?"
[23:10.27] <+Melchior> "We can leave shortly, yes, although there is always the time issue."
[23:10.38] * Kir chuckles
[23:10.40] <Kallias> "Mmm..."
[23:10.41] <+Kir> "Just books"
[23:10.49] <Kallias> "So this is a sunset."
[23:10.59] * Kallias stares at the horizon.
[23:11.06] <Kallias> "It really is something."
[23:11.23] * Kir shifts his focus to the burning skyline
[23:11.28] * Akvan gazes upwards
[23:11.30] <+Kir> "Look, Shala"
[23:11.32] * Akvan is quiet in aww
[23:12.01] * Repriever watches the sunset with the gang.
[23:12.15] <Kallias> And there's something else, hanging on the other side of the sky.
[23:12.23] * Shala_ has seen a shroudless sky before, but never in her own time
[23:12.33] <Kallias> The palest white, with a hint of indigo.
[23:12.40] <+Akvan> "what is that?"
[23:12.45] * Repriever smiles.
[23:12.46] * Akvan whispers to repriever
[23:12.51] * Shala_ feels a strange foreboding that suffocates her joy
[23:12.54] <+Repriever> "Wait for her."
[23:13.05] <Kallias> The crescent arc of a new moon.
[23:13.19] <Kallias> What the people simply call Umbrea.
[23:13.51] <Kallias> Although Shala remembers what lurks on its far side.
[23:13.53] * Repriever lets out a broken breath.
[23:14.05] <+Melchior> "Haven't had too many of these yet, I suppose."
[23:14.09] <Kallias> The airless city.
[23:14.12] * Melchior appreciates other people appreciating the sight.
[23:14.26] <+Repriever> "See."
[23:14.38] * Akvan is breathless
[23:14.52] * Repriever awaits the twinkling of stars.
[23:14.55] * Kallias changes topic to: A Handful of Dust Session 83: Sharp Gasping - ＋https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ady--PNMsfI，
[23:15.47] <Kallias> "It seems clear we are in the year of the Ritual."
[23:16.11] <+Repriever> "I am not blind anymore."
[23:16.39] * Repriever pulses the cosmic arm.
[23:16.41] <Kallias> The golden disk draws down over the greatness of the Lethean Sea.
[23:17.24] * Kir is transfixed to the orange crests far along the horizon
[23:17.25] <Kallias> Ripples of gold, hints of green, fading to darkest blue, and now, the stars begin to shine in the clear blue, furthest from the sun and nearest the moon.
[23:17.49] <Kallias> And the waves of reddish purple around the star.
[23:18.16] * Akvan gasps, and stumbles
[23:18.29] * Akvan cannot look away from the sun
[23:18.39] * Akvan shakes
[23:18.50] * Akvan whimpers a bit
[23:19.12] <Kallias> "Are you alright, Akvan?"
[23:19.30] * Akvan does not respond, captivated by the light of the sun
[23:19.36] * Akvan gazes in terror
[23:19.47] * Repriever stands closer to Akvan.
[23:19.50] <+Shala_> "The heavens are something, arent they?"
[23:20.03] <+Akvan> "It's him... the father."
[23:20.04] <+Kir> "I think I maybe know what he sees"
[23:20.09] <+Shala_> [dont know the proper artan term for that]
[23:20.11] <+Repriever> "Breathe."
[23:20.27] <+Repriever> "Fear is in the mind only."
[23:20.40] * Akvan takes a deep breath
[23:20.41] <+Repriever> "Break it."
[23:20.53] <+Akvan> "He spoke"
[23:20.57] * Akvan looks at Preev
[23:21.00] <+Akvan> "He spoke to me."
[23:21.07] <Kallias> As Repriever draws closer, your awareness drifts from the blazing heat of the sun to the cool drifting of the ocean waves.
[23:21.11] <Kallias> And it does calm you, for a time.
[23:21.16] <+Akvan> "We can't tarry."
[23:21.26] <+Akvan> "As soon as couplet is here, we leave."
[23:22.11] <+Repriever> "We should not take her to the city."
[23:22.37] * Akvan sighs
[23:22.50] <+Repriever> "I won't baptize another squire in the blood of Ekrat."
[23:22.56] <+Akvan> "What, then."
[23:23.04] <+Akvan> "She cannot stay here. She cannot go with us."
[23:23.11] <+Akvan> "What is the answer?"
[23:23.25] <+Melchior> "She would come with us, as an ally of yours, and an ally of Carcephon."
[23:23.31] <+Repriever> "We have to return don't we."
[23:23.34] <+Melchior> "She is a prisoner or worse, here."
[23:23.39] <+Repriever> "The islands must soar."
[23:23.48] <+Akvan> "She should come with us."
[23:24.06] <Kallias> "It seems she'll be able to voice her own opinion, very soon..."
[23:24.18] * Repriever acquiesces.
[23:24.24] <Kallias> Kallias looks to the horizon, where a figure approaches.
[23:24.40] <Kallias> Its wingspan is not terribly different from a velcirath.
[23:24.55] <Kallias> But the figure attached to the wings is clad in human armor.
[23:25.00] <+Repriever> "No."
[23:25.10] * Repriever pleads.
[23:25.26] <Kallias> The visor is down.
[23:26.08] <Kallias> But as the large, dark-blue wings flap, and she lands, you can see that her breastplate is decorated with a stylized eye, etched into the blue-tinged steel of her breastplate.
[23:26.21] <Kallias> She flips the visor up.
[23:26.27] <Kallias> And you see the smiling face of Couplet.
[23:26.31] <+Akvan> "Couplet!"
[23:26.37] <Kallias> Except, like Akvan, she has the same brand on her forehead.
[23:26.38] * Akvan runs forward and wraps her up ina  hug
[23:26.43] <Kallias> The Eye.
[23:26.50] * Repriever stands still.
[23:26.59] <Kallias> She hugs him back, laughing brightly as she folds the wings behind her back.
[23:27.06] <+Akvan> "How do you feel?"
[23:27.07] * You are now known as Couplet
[23:27.10] <+Melchior> "Couplet."
[23:27.11] <Couplet> She has grown.
[23:27.12] * Melchior smiles.
[23:27.17] * Melchior comes closer and gives her a hug.
[23:27.19] <Couplet> "Akvan!"
[23:27.22] <Couplet> "Mel!"
[23:27.26] <+Melchior> "I'm glad to see you in better health than I last saw you."
[23:27.29] <Couplet> "It's so great to see you both!"
[23:27.31] * Kir smiles, broadly
[23:27.33] <Couplet> "Yes, I can't tell you..."
[23:27.35] <+Kir> "Welcome"
[23:27.38] <Couplet> "It's freedom."
[23:27.54] <+Repriever> |You have wings.|
[23:27.55] * Akvan is smiling broadly
[23:27.57] * Repriever says in draconic.
[23:28.03] * Couplet looks, slowly, to Repriever standing apart from the group.
[23:28.10] <Couplet> "H..hi, captain."
[23:28.18] <+Akvan> [forgive him]
[23:28.23] * Akvan says in the same language
[23:28.30] <+Repriever> [it's || not [] ]
[23:28.42] <+Akvan> whoops sorry
[23:29.12] * Kir idly wonders as to whether or not she or Akvan could toast his sandwich before taking a bite, content to watch for now
[23:29.28] <Couplet> "There's nothing to be sorry for."
[23:29.38] <Couplet> "None of it was your fault."
[23:29.57] <+Repriever> |How much has she taught you?|
[23:30.06] * Couplet sighs.
[23:30.16] <Couplet> |You don't have to do this.|
[23:30.31] <Couplet> "I can do a lot."
[23:30.37] <+Repriever> "I wasn't able to save you."
[23:30.51] <Couplet> "Of course you were."
[23:30.55] <Couplet> "You brought me out of there."
[23:31.11] <Couplet> "Isn't Carcephon your friend?"
[23:31.22] <+Repriever> |Strong word.|
[23:31.32] <Couplet> "Well you aren't like this to Akvan!"
[23:31.39] <+Melchior> "He is."
[23:31.40] <+Repriever> "I am."
[23:31.42] * Couplet grabs his arm, squeesing this.
[23:31.43] * Akvan puts a hand on her shoulder
[23:31.47] <+Melchior> [OOC high five]
[23:31.48] <Couplet> squeezing akvan's arm*
[23:31.57] <+Akvan> "He is."
[23:32.04] <Couplet> "Carcephon wants what's best for all of us."
[23:32.07] <+Akvan> "But he will also respect your choices."
[23:32.11] <Couplet> "She's good!"
[23:32.21] <Couplet> "Look at how she helped me!"
[23:32.22] <+Akvan> "She... is... but sh eneeds help"
[23:32.25] <+Repriever> "I should have never left you without a choice."
[23:32.28] * Couplet spins around.
[23:32.31] * Kir chews a delightful mouthful of cheese, tomato, and fine bread while he watches
[23:32.41] <Couplet> "I'm so strong now."
[23:32.41] <+Melchior> "Repriever's hurt... none of us truly know how much he's lost at the hands of those he's fought before."
[23:32.42] <+Akvan> "She needs our help, Couplet."
[23:32.44] <+Kir> [I'm imagining something like a caprese]
[23:32.45] <Couplet> "And I can fly!"
[23:32.47] <+Melchior> "He would not be angry at you, Couplet."
[23:32.53] <Couplet> "Akvan, I felt her in trouble."
[23:33.00] <Couplet> "Although our connection probably isn't as strong as yours is."
[23:33.03] * Akvan she was revealed to her sibling
[23:33.04] <+Akvan> s
[23:33.05] <+Melchior> "He's angry that he was unable to bring you to a situation where he could provide other choices."
[23:33.07] <+Akvan> "Before she was ready."
[23:33.08] <Couplet> "I'm here to help."
[23:33.17] <Couplet> "And I can fight."
[23:33.26] <+Akvan> "We are going to Ekrat to recruit her brother."
[23:33.30] * Couplet nods.
[23:33.32] <Couplet> "Smart!"
[23:33.35] * Repriever looks sad.
[23:33.48] * Couplet walks up to Repriever.
[23:33.53] <+Repriever> "You are not the first squire I've seen changed."
[23:33.59] <Couplet> "You're still my captain, Repriever."
[23:34.06] <+Akvan> "But you can still help this one, Repriever."
[23:34.14] <Couplet> "I said no to her, at first."
[23:34.19] <+Akvan> "She is not beyond you."
[23:34.23] <Couplet> "But Carcephon told me that you were using her power too."
[23:34.32] <Couplet> "So it was alright."
[23:34.37] <+Repriever> "I use them for... I use them carefully."
[23:34.42] <Couplet> "So do I!"
[23:34.48] <+Akvan> "We all use it carefully."
[23:35.06] <+Akvan> "You have to remember that while Carcephon helps us, and loves us... she doesn't always have all the answers."
[23:35.13] * Kir whispers something to Shala
[23:35.15] <Couplet> "Hmm."
[23:35.18] <+Akvan> "And that we serve important roles in showing her the right direction."
[23:35.23] <Couplet> "Well I think that's a lack of faith, Akvan."
[23:35.27] * Couplet says, semi-jokingly.
[23:35.32] * Akvan laughs
[23:35.36] <Couplet> "She probably just hasn't seen fit to show us the path yet."
[23:35.38] <+Akvan> "It's true, though."
[23:35.51] <+Repriever> "What do you think Astara will say?"
[23:35.54] <Couplet> "I'm sure that we're all following her divine plan."
[23:35.59] <Couplet> "Astara?"
[23:36.07] <Couplet> "I don't belong to Astara."
[23:36.14] <Couplet> "If anything it's Calcis who should be mad."
[23:36.16] <+Akvan> ?roll 1d20+18
[23:36.16] <%tBot> Akvan: 27 ([9] +18)
[23:36.18] <+Akvan> diplomacy
[23:36.31] <+Akvan> "Just consider my words, Couplet. The Divines are not infalliable."
[23:36.37] <+Akvan> "They need our help"
[23:36.46] <+Akvan> "They need us, jsut as much as we need them."
[23:36.59] <+Repriever> "I'm glad you're healthy."
[23:36.59] * Akvan smiles
[23:37.01] * Kir smiles a little at this
[23:37.02] * Couplet smiles.
[23:37.05] <+Akvan> "I'm glad you're here with us"
[23:37.09] <Couplet> "But we have to have faith in them, Akvan."
[23:37.14] <Couplet> "Complete and perfect faith."
[23:37.19] <Couplet> "I learned that from Repriever."
[23:37.29] * Akvan makes eye contact with Preev
[23:37.30] * Shala_ nods to herself, to the one next to her, and also to some voices in her head
[23:37.50] <+Melchior> "Faith and unquestioning loyalty, of course, are two diff'rent things."
[23:38.06] <+Repriever> "The divines are not our masters."
[23:38.09] <Couplet> "I believe in the future that Carcephon has seen for all of us."
[23:38.31] <Couplet> "She's going to help us in amazing ways."
[23:38.50] <Couplet> "Remember, when we first found her in Tarcydia?"
[23:38.54] <+Akvan> "We serve her, couplet."
[23:38.58] * Akvan taps his brand
[23:38.59] * Repriever seeks the stars now instead of anyone's eyes.
[23:39.06] <Couplet> "She's been trying to help us since we first met her!"
[23:39.06] <+Akvan> "But also she serves the world"
[23:39.12] <Couplet> "Mm."
[23:39.15] <Couplet> "That's a good point."
[23:39.23] <+Akvan> "It is her role, just as it is ours to serve her."
[23:39.28] <Couplet> "The other divines have their place as her assistants."
[23:39.32] <Couplet> "For sure."
[23:39.38] * Melchior blinks.
[23:39.48] <+Melchior> "I'm not convinced that it'll work that way."
[23:39.57] <Couplet> "Oh yeah, uh...sorry Mel!"
[23:39.59] * Akvan looks at mel and preev
[23:40.03] * Melchior sticks out a tongue.
[23:40.10] * Couplet giggles slightly.
[23:40.18] <+Akvan> "We've just gotten back together. There'll be time for theology later."
[23:40.22] <Couplet> "I still have a lot to learn."
[23:40.28] <+Melchior> "As do we all."
[23:40.39] <Couplet> "Sooooo."
[23:40.43] <Couplet> "This Ekrat thing."
[23:40.45] <+Akvan> "Ekrat"
[23:40.47] <Couplet> "Are we going?"
[23:41.16] * Repriever is taking in the sky.
[23:41.21] <+Akvan> "Yes"
[23:41.29] <Couplet> "Well there's no time to waste!"
[23:41.31] <Couplet> "Carcephon needs us!"
[23:41.44] * Akvan looks at Kir
[23:42.01] * Kir meets his gaze
[23:42.07] <+Kir> "?"
[23:42.11] <Couplet> "Uhh...how do we get there?"
[23:42.17] <+Akvan> "You said we can't take the portals, right?"
[23:42.22] <Couplet> "I'm not, like the magic person."
[23:42.29] <Couplet> "Although I can do some magic now!"
[23:42.30] <+Kir> "I do not like risk of portals."
[23:42.36] * Couplet flares a blue flame in her hand.
[23:42.38] <+Melchior> "There is a way, one of the portals. They are a possibility. The Reme is another, of dubious use. Teleportation, maybe, but risky for its own ways."
[23:42.43] <Couplet> "And I can throw fireballs!"
[23:42.45] <+Repriever> "The flame is nothing but a spark from the furnaces of creation, Couplet."
[23:42.47] * Akvan flares a similar one on his and smiles at her
[23:42.56] <+Repriever> "Carcephon would well remember that."
[23:42.56] <+Kir> "If were by us Reme..."
[23:43.06] <+Melchior> "Are you trying to make poor Repriever have an aneurysm?"
[23:43.08] <Couplet> "Well you need heat before anything can live, don't you?"
[23:43.24] <Couplet> "I'm pretty sure fire came first."
[23:43.26] <+Kir> "Portals maybe best, if we anchor time"
[23:43.36] <+Kir> "But we must accept risk of Kallosi intervention"
[23:43.47] * You are now known as Kallias
[23:43.56] <Kallias> "We have taken steps to isolate the portals from interference."
[23:43.57] * Repriever swallows his issues.
[23:44.10] <Kallias> "Of course, he may be able to sidestep them."
[23:44.18] <Kallias> "But I suspect Kallos will take what time he can get."
[23:44.19] <+Kir> "His technology and influence far beyond that"
[23:44.26] * Kir shrugs
[23:44.35] <+Kir> "Perhaps. I don't know anymore"
[23:44.41] <Kallias> "I mean..."
[23:44.51] <+Melchior> "Plus, he shares an interest in us arriving- if he opts to waylay us, he's only increasing the long-term risk to himself."
[23:44.56] <Kallias> "You're rather threatening, now."
[23:45.08] * Kir nods
[23:45.10] <Kallias> "Moreso than when you first came here."
[23:45.30] <+Kir> "Hm. Portals also allow better entrance. Easier to join fight"
[23:45.49] <+Kir> "If everyone agrees, I will operate"
[23:46.07] <Kallias> "The portal lets out in the sewers beneath the city, a hidden chamber."
[23:46.26] <+Kir> "So like Pyleth"
[23:46.31] <+Shala_> "Begrudgingly. It's inelegant
[23:46.33] <+Shala_> "
[23:46.45] <+Kir> "Hm. Also, possibly, Kallosi equipment cache there"
[23:46.45] <Kallias> "Yes. Kallos built a network of them across the old world."
[23:46.51] * Repriever is studying the stars as he waits.
[23:47.17] <+Kir> "Only we go? Or troops as well"
[23:47.34] <+Melchior> "That would be a decision for the Calcissi."
[23:47.53] <+Repriever> "They don't have the women to spare."
[23:47.56] <+Kir> "Assuming we gain purchase with Dragons, I advise against"
[23:48.05] <+Melchior> "A smaller force might be better for being a small way to turn the tide, than to further exhaust the Queendom's forces."
[23:48.11] <Kallias> "If your aim is to negotiate with Illian, it may be best not to come at the head of an army."
[23:48.20] <Kallias> "We could send a token force, if it is required."
[23:48.30] <+Kir> "I thought of platoon, at most"
[23:48.47] <+Kir> "Regardless, on second thought we alone - best option"
[23:48.50] <Kallias> "But you have the Essence of Water, do you not..."
[23:49.16] <Kallias> "With such power, it would be almost trivial to stealth into the heart of his operations."
[23:49.27] * Repriever gives Shala a look while the talk of essences rises.
[23:49.38] <Kallias> "If the legends are true, the Essence of Water can hide anything."
[23:49.51] <+Melchior> "I have not yet dared to exercise it."
[23:49.52] <Kallias> "Sael was able to disappear from foes in an instant."
[23:49.56] <Kallias> "No blade ever touched him."
[23:50.10] <+Kir> "I rest with the following plan: we, six, use Kallosi portal to infiltrate into Ekrat"
[23:50.32] <+Kir> "But if we leave imminently, I need to stop by library before we go"
[23:50.43] <+Repriever> "Then do so."
[23:50.55] * Kir gets up and goes
[23:50.56] <+Repriever> "Shala, take him?"
[23:51.02] <+Repriever> [I mean, she can poof around]
[23:51.26] * You are now known as Couplet
[23:51.30] <+Shala_> "It's a nice walk though, lots of...sigh, fine"
[23:51.40] * Shala_ takes his hand and POOFS to the library
[23:51.45] * Couplet watches Kir and Shala get up together with an indiscernible look in her eyes.
[23:51.53] <+Repriever> [uh oh]
[23:52.00] <+Shala_> [sorry scaleface]
[23:52.04] <+Shala_> [ D: ]
[23:52.07] * Akvan puts a hand on her shoulder
[23:52.15] * Couplet looks at Akvan, and smiles.
[23:52.27] <+Repriever> [shala v couplet]
[23:52.46] * Akvan smiles at her
[23:52.57] * Melchior is back sketching in her notebook, and briefly pops into her sugar bowl again.
[23:53.01] <+Repriever> "The White Prince."
[23:53.23] <+Repriever> "Palethorn found me after a battle with his forces."
[23:53.26] <Couplet> Mel, as you try to use your sugar bowl, you feel a certain resistance.
[23:53.35] <+Kir> ?roll 1d20
[23:53.35] <%tBot> Kir: 12 [12]
[23:53.36] <+Repriever> "I'm sorry you never met the true Palethorn, Couplet."
[23:53.39] <Couplet> And you realize there's a magical limitation to its use.
[23:54.02] <Couplet> The number of hours you spend in the bowl.
[23:54.12] <Couplet> You have to spend that number of hours in reality before you can access it again.
[23:54.27] * Melchior makes mental note of this.
[23:54.29] <Couplet> Presumably this is some kind of universal constant to prevent you from spending 10,000 years in the bowl and becoming an elder god of power or something.
[23:54.37] <Couplet> or, well, you could do that, but only once.
[23:54.47] <+Repriever> "The one I destroyed at the Citadel was not him."
[23:55.08] <Couplet> although I think the real barrier there would be psychological...
[23:55.16] <Couplet> "I know."
[23:55.19] <Couplet> "None of them are real."
[23:55.23] <Couplet> "They think they are, though."
[23:55.27] <Couplet> "It's the strangest thing."
[23:55.39] <Couplet> "Even when Apastron made two copies of Palethorn and made them talk to each other."
[23:55.43] <Couplet> "I saw that, once."
[23:55.46] <Couplet> "I saw a lot of things..."
[23:55.49] <+Repriever> "Who else did you see with them?"
[23:55.58] <+Repriever> "What other minds has it stolen?"
[23:57.39] <Couplet> "So many names. Karran, Argench, Sarakharian, uh...Sybi, another one named...what was it..."
[23:58.06] <Couplet> "All great soldiers from different times."
[23:58.11] * Repriever looks pissed.
[23:58.40] <+Repriever> "The Apastron tests my patience."
[23:58.51] <Couplet> "He can't bring back Durosan, though."
[23:58.57] <Couplet> "You cut that one out forever."
[23:59.02] <Couplet> "When you broke the soul blade."
[23:59.11] * Repriever nods.
[23:59.13] <Couplet> "I think that's why Palethorn didn't use his halberd against you in the duel."
[23:59.21] <+Repriever> "Zathindra."
[23:59.45] <Couplet> "Did she break it?"
[23:59.47] <Couplet> "Or...take it?"
[23:59.56] <+Repriever> "We need to go dig a sword up. Soon."
[00:00.11] <+Repriever> "I'm not sure."
[00:00.24] <Couplet> "Or leave it..."
[00:00.27] <Couplet> "That sword..."
[00:00.31] <Couplet> "Isn't buried in dead lands, is it?"
[00:00.52] * Repriever sighs that it is.
[00:01.08] <Couplet> "Well poop."
[00:01.26] <+Repriever> "No one but me knows where it is. Maybe he hasn't found it."
[00:01.43] <+Melchior> "Lords of the dead tend to have an uncanny ability to find corpses, even hidden."
[00:01.46] * Melchior says from her work.
[00:01.59] <Couplet> They've got a tiny little model of some floating islands going now, Mel.
[00:02.04] <Couplet> One of them falls over, though.
[00:02.04] <+Repriever> "I burned his body, but the sword I buried."
[00:02.10] <Couplet> And another sparks and melts.
[00:02.14] <+Repriever> "I did not know as much then as I do now."
[00:02.16] <Couplet> All useful data, though.
[00:03.26] * Melchior tests out her own design, from earlier (using her own focus power as the primary loop, to elevate a rock)
[00:03.55] <Couplet> Trivial!
[00:04.04] <Couplet> Although the more irregular the rock size, the more corrections it needs.
[00:04.26] * Repriever pulls out his sparkstones and tries to tap to Plainchant.
[00:04.32] * Repriever has no idea how to tap a code.
[00:04.48] * Repriever is just testing that they work.
[00:04.54] * Melchior works to focus on focusing the enchantment in several suspension points, akin to the later pylons that we will hopefully install.
[00:05.07] <Couplet> They tap back a brief pattern, Repriever.
[00:05.25] <Couplet> "Funny."
[00:05.32] <+Repriever> "What?"
[00:05.36] <Couplet> "If they'd given Mother a pair of those, maybe they could have saved her."
[00:05.44] <+Kir> "Shala, can we go to main Tetraea library?"
[00:05.57] <+Kir> "Need to find something they lack here"
[00:06.00] <+Shala_> [we're there already folks]
[00:06.06] <+Shala_> [right?]
[00:06.15] <+Repriever> [or does he mean te gleamimels]
[00:06.16] <Couplet> [technically you're in the library for Marcelian Fort]
[00:06.18] <+Kir> [no, the city library, as opposed to Marcelian's libary]
[00:06.22] <+Shala_> [oh, nm]
[00:06.55] <+Shala_> "It's as easy as thinking about it, Kir"
[00:07.02] * Shala_ takes him to another library
[00:07.13] <+Shala_> [which im sure has no security or wards D: ]
[00:07.30] <+Repriever> [you own air]
[00:07.41] <Couplet> It's an interesting place, the main Tetraea library.
[00:07.54] <Couplet> Although you're quickly swarmed by people who either love you or blame you for things.
[00:08.07] <Couplet> Luckily there are enough guards on duty to beat them away and give you a little privacy.
[00:08.19] * Kir pushes on, singlemindedly seeking Philosophy
[00:08.27] <Couplet> The cool thing is that Kallos actually built the train network of Tetraea to stop there for a station
[00:08.33] <+Kir> [rolling the same thing as before]
[00:08.37] <Couplet> although the trains don't work on independent power anymore
[00:08.39] <+Kir> ?roll 1d20
[00:08.40] <%tBot> Kir: 20 [20]
[00:08.45] <Couplet> and they're drawn by teams of horses.
[00:09.09] <Couplet> Thankfully the library was spared from the destruction that ripped through the city
[00:09.20] <Couplet> Probably and ironically thanks to protections Kallos built into it.
[00:09.29] <Couplet> Well, Kir, what do you know
[00:09.40] <Couplet> You find an interesting stack of texts on your chosen philosophical topic
[00:10.05] <Couplet> But you also don't have a ton of time.
[00:10.14] * Kir checks these out, if possible
[00:10.28] <+Repriever> [honey, you're the six, you just take it]
[00:10.33] <+Repriever> [;)]
[00:10.53] * Kir asks that he be able to take them to Marcelian for safekeeping, if not
[00:10.57] <Couplet> The awed librarian asks if you have a library membership card.
[00:11.05] <+Kir> "No"
[00:11.11] <Couplet> He stamps a new one for you.
[00:11.41] <Couplet> Adjusting his robe and spectacles as he gapes after you and Shala as you leave.
[00:11.53] <+Kir> "Thanks!"
[00:12.05] * Kir calls, preparing again to teleport
[00:12.18] <Couplet> Once you are ported back to Marcelian, Kallias is set to take you to the portal to Ekrat.
[00:12.47] * Kir scans the titles of the books as he follows the Inquisitor
[00:13.02] * Melchior is conferring with Whitelay.
[00:13.13] * You are now known as Whitelay
[00:13.18] * Repriever being a quiet guy in armor.
[00:13.29] * Repriever has had a stressful couple days.
[00:13.30] <+Melchior> "This is the design we'll try to prototype. This is the control system we'll want to set up, to see if we can get it to work with the smaller scale models."
[00:13.41] * Kir also glances over the authors
[00:13.43] <Whitelay> "...the composition of the rock for pylon placement will be important, I think, since we can't put it anywhere that will erode..."
[00:14.03] <+Melchior> "They can be replaced, if necessary, but I will want the best surveying data we can get."
[00:14.05] <Whitelay> "We'll practice on a larger scale model of the islands, about the size of a house, outside of the city."
[00:14.14] <+Melchior> "Any geological knowledge that can be gleaned."
[00:14.15] <+Repriever> "Can they not be made of gold?"
[00:14.20] <Whitelay> "There's a lot of rubble left over from the palace..."
[00:14.22] * Repriever puts in dumbly.
[00:14.36] <+Melchior> "They could be made out of many things."
[00:14.38] <Whitelay> "Well...theoretically, gold doesn't erode."
[00:14.48] <Whitelay> "It's not a terrible idea," Whitelay says charitably.
[00:15.04] <+Melchior> "If needs be I can transmute."
[00:15.09] <+Melchior> "I'll also consider... hmm."
[00:15.10] * Repriever has added an important thing to this design.
[00:15.26] <Whitelay> "Although that raises the concern of future treasure hunters stripping away elements of our pylons..."
[00:15.39] <Whitelay> "We could add a number of elaborate traps and puzzles to prevent any such unauthorized access."
[00:15.42] <+Melchior> "If we can get to the point where there are future treasure hunters, Whitelay, we have won."
[00:15.58] * Melchior gives a small smile.
[00:15.59] * Whitelay chuckles.
[00:16.02] <Whitelay> "Very true."
[00:16.26] <+Melchior> "So see if we can prototype this control setup..."
[00:16.28] * Melchior points.
[00:16.33] <+Melchior> "And the test lifts."
[00:16.37] <Whitelay> "Noted."
[00:16.50] <Whitelay> "I'm assuming we won't implement the...intelligences yet."
[00:16.56] <+Melchior> "Collect what geological knowledge you can from miners and those of knowledge."
[00:17.01] <+Akvan> "We should act is if we will win."
[00:17.02] <+Melchior> "We will not do that yet, no."
[00:17.05] <Whitelay> "But hopefully you can accomplish work on that in your downtime."
[00:17.39] <+Melchior> "I am conceiving a ritual that I might conduct... with my ability for distant vision and my attunement with the element of earth... I might be able to put together a great survey of the isles."
[00:17.53] <+Melchior> "A great shout into an empty cave that returns an echo, if you will."
[00:18.12] <+Melchior> "That might be able to accelerate our work."
[00:18.57] <+Melchior> "Until then, everything I have written on the ritual that restored Repriever's arm could be of potential use in this, since it uses the same fundamental conceit- that a source of energy can be turned into a stable system, which can output its energy in moderated ways."
[00:19.08] <+Melchior> "A circle where you can draw energy in, without having it immediately leak out."
[00:19.19] <+Repriever> "It's worked well."
[00:19.25] <+Melchior> "I know those are present at the library as well, so they can be good points of reference."
[00:19.42] <+Melchior> "I look forward to continuing our cooperation, gentlemen."
[00:20.06] <+Repriever> "Whitelay."
[00:20.22] <Whitelay> "Yes?"
[00:20.25] <+Repriever> "If you have access to lavender, bring me some."
[00:20.36] <Whitelay> "We grow it here, in the roof garden."
[00:20.43] <Whitelay> "Let me gather some."
[00:20.52] * Whitelay wanders to a distant corner of the garden.
[00:21.29] * Whitelay returns with a few tufts.
[00:21.36] <Whitelay> "Here you are, Repriever."
[00:21.54] * Repriever thanks him and ties it onto his armor, near the shoulder.
[00:22.02] <Whitelay> "And yes, Melchior. I feel gifted to exist in your presence. You do things I thought were only possible in the time of Bel."
[00:22.10] * Kir is looking in a small bookbag, packing it into his bags
[00:22.32] <Whitelay> The pale purple stands there.
[00:22.42] <+Kir> "Old Man"
[00:22.57] <+Repriever> "Yes?"
[00:23.03] * Repriever replies in Gora Miri.
[00:23.08] * Repriever likes practicing it.
[00:23.12] * Kir smiles
[00:23.15] <+Kir> "Good job"
[00:23.28] * Kir replies in the same language, speaking a little quickly
[00:23.58] * You are now known as Kallias
[00:24.04] <+Kir> "I've got a question, or a series of them, about old Elydia"
[00:24.21] <+Kir> "Do you remember anything about the radical Astaran priests?"
[00:24.35] * Repriever takes this in slowly.
[00:24.38] <+Kir> "The populists"
[00:24.59] <Kallias> "There are certain passages that lead under the canals."
[00:25.03] <Kallias> "We will be taking one of them now."
[00:25.06] <+Kir> "The folk preachers"
[00:25.08] <+Melchior> "I am sorry to feel that I am always returning to the Queendom to find it in a worse state than I had last seen it. I hope dearly, my friend, that this will be the last time that I have the misfortune of seeing such a thing again."
[00:25.33] <+Repriever> "Yes."
[00:25.52] <+Repriever> "Outsiders, uh..."
[00:25.55] * Repriever goes back to Elydian.
[00:26.14] <+Repriever> "Travellers. They were minimalists, lived through charity alone."
[00:26.32] * Kir feeds him the vocab after he's said it
[00:26.44] * Kallias sighs.
[00:26.48] <Kallias> "I feel the same, Melchior."
[00:26.57] <+Repriever> "They operated outside the Setadei."
[00:27.02] <Kallias> "But I hope we are now climbing out of our nadir."
[00:27.06] <+Repriever> "Under their own rules and by their own means."
[00:27.19] <+Repriever> "They did good work, and caused more trouble."
[00:27.57] <+Kir> "Heh. How so?"
[00:28.20] <+Repriever> "Elydia had two systems: church and throne."
[00:28.34] <+Repriever> "They fit into neither and caused conflict with both at times."
[00:28.56] <+Kir> "They preached what?"
[00:29.14] <+Repriever> "Astaran ideals."
[00:29.46] * Kir switches to Gora Miri to speak to Preevo but encourages him to respond in Elydian
[00:30.20] <+Kir> "But you say they caused trouble, even as priests. And they are identified as radicals. Why?"
[00:30.50] <+Repriever> "When you do works on your own outside the orders of the establishment, even for good, you are labeled as dangerous."
[00:31.31] <+Repriever> "If you go to butchering satrapal riders and local thugs who pay taxes to the crown..."
[00:31.40] <+Repriever> "You're a hero to some, a threat to others."
[00:31.48] <+Kir> "Oh?"
[00:32.13] <+Kir> "Tell me more."
[00:32.21] <+Kir> "And what did you think of them then?"
[00:32.34] <+Repriever> "By my time not many were left."
[00:32.52] <+Repriever> "They merged into the Setadei, if they survived the Emergence at all."
[00:33.09] <+Kir> "Emergence?"
[00:33.15] <+Kir> "Oh, the Dragons"
[00:33.23] <+Repriever> "When the Father broke the world, yes."
[00:33.28] <+Repriever> "With fire and misery."
[00:33.44] <+Kir> "I always forget that they were not always here"
[00:33.46] <+Repriever> "The war of my youth."
[00:34.00] <+Kir> "I guess that's strange, considering how short a time I've been in this world"
[00:34.02] <Kallias> "Speaking of dragons."
[00:34.16] <+Akvan> "We should go"
[00:34.17] * Kallias leverages open a trap door underneath a clod of soil and turf.
[00:34.23] * Kir switches to common
[00:34.34] <+Repriever> "There are legends about them that I know of, but only in passing."
[00:34.48] <+Kir> "We go!"
[00:34.49] <+Repriever> "You have to understand Elydia was dying when I was in a position to ask these questions myself."
[00:34.53] <Kallias> "Indeed."
[00:35.10] <+Repriever> "And so we'll meet one of the breakers."
[00:35.27] * Repriever sniffs his lavender brooch.
[00:35.28] <+Kir> "You ever hear legends of Marak Astis?"
[00:36.23] <+Repriever> "Yeah, I have."
[00:36.48] <+Repriever> "He was dead long before my time."
[00:37.15] <+Repriever> "He promised a new world."
[00:37.54] * Kir follows Kallias down the passage as he listens
[00:38.06] <+Kir> "What kind of world?"
[00:38.15] <+Repriever> "Easy to hear his words as a street rat."
[00:38.33] <+Repriever> "A world for the faithful, not one for the excess of the satraps."
[00:38.56] * Melchior is ready to depart.
[00:39.15] <+Repriever> "The ones who pass through fire for the stars will be as angels."
[00:39.20] * Kir scans the portal chamber for anything his seal could activate
[00:39.21] * Repriever rakes his hair.
[00:39.24] <Kallias> Kallias takes you down a long, narrow tunnel with handholds, into the darkness.
[00:39.25] <+Repriever> "Or something."
[00:39.50] <+Repriever> "I haven't been a boy in a very long time."
[00:39.59] * Akvan flares light so we can see
[00:40.08] * Kir lowers his visor
[00:40.56] <+Repriever> "Why do you ask? Planning a revolution?"
[00:41.14] * Kir laughs
[00:41.30] <+Kir> "Read his name in book earlier"
[00:41.51] <+Repriever> "What book?"
[00:41.52] <+Kir> "Wondered why Astaran priests maligned in their own land"
[00:43.12] <+Kir> "Some introduction to philosophy mentioned... Trial and Tribulation, I think it was called?"
[00:43.29] <+Repriever> "I'd like to see it, after."
[00:43.40] <+Kir> "Naturally"
[00:43.43] <+Repriever> "I'm surprised anything survived, even in Kallos' libraries."
[00:44.40] <+Repriever> "Hard to imagine stories I heard as a filthy kid coming up now."
[00:44.50] <+Repriever> "So far from there."
[00:45.04] <Kallias> "I doubt you'll find anything here, Kir..."
[00:45.21] <+Kir> "Really, Kallias?"
[00:45.30] * Kir takes a looka round the chamber
[00:45.33] <+Kir> perception
[00:45.53] <+Kir> ?roll 1d20+16
[00:45.53] <%tBot> Kir: 32 ([16] +16)
[00:45.55] <+Repriever> "I never did like the nobility."
[00:45.59] <Kallias> Unlike the grand chamber at Pyleth, this one seems fairly small.
[00:46.14] <+Repriever> "Maybe it's Marak's fault."
[00:46.21] <+Kir> "You know something funny"
[00:46.33] <Kallias> Water trickles from a few pipes, but the cold stone doorway saying 'Ekrat' is relatively spartan.
[00:46.37] <+Kir> "Sphere seems attracted to that book"
[00:46.42] <Kallias> "Well, descendants of Kallos have been thick on the ground here."
[00:46.46] <Kallias> "But Ekrat is another matter."
[00:46.48] <+Kir> "Maybe Kallos liked"
[00:47.16] <Kallias> "You may be luckier there, the dragons aren't quite apt at unlocking Kallosi seals."
[00:47.35] <+Repriever> "Maybe. He didn't have much for holy orders, but we can agree on the liberation of man."
[00:47.48] <Kallias> "This portal was intentionally broken, but...we can fix it..."
[00:48.02] <+Melchior> "How thoroughly broken?"
[00:48.09] <+Repriever> "Shame we loved the same woman."
[00:48.48] <+Repriever> "Has a nasty habit of ruining things."
[00:48.48] * Kir sighs, heavily, in agreement
[00:49.00] <+Kir> "I should say"
[00:49.05] * Kir rubs his neck
[00:49.15] * You are now known as Couplet
[00:49.21] * Couplet twitches her wings slightly.
[00:49.28] <Couplet> "I don't like the smell down here."
[00:49.41] * You are now known as Kallias
[00:49.49] <Kallias> "We removed the keystone."
[00:49.58] <Kallias> "The portal is still occasionally used, to transit spies and information."
[00:50.07] <Kallias> "So not very thoroughly."
[00:50.16] <+Kir> "Hm"
[00:50.31] <+Melchior> "That seems less 'broken' and more 'locked'."
[00:50.45] <Kallias> "But Ekrat is not long for this world if the Apastron has his way."
[00:50.59] <+Kir> "Before other things, we can stabilize time?"
[00:51.04] <+Akvan> "What's wrong with the smell?"
[00:51.06] * Akvan asks couplet
[00:51.32] <+Repriever> "Ekrat's been lost for centuries, Kallias."
[00:51.38] * You are now known as Couplet
[00:51.41] <+Repriever> "I should know, I lost it."
[00:51.42] <Couplet> "I don't know..."
[00:51.54] <Couplet> "It smells like...I don't know what it smells like."
[00:51.58] <+Akvan> ?roll 1d20+6
[00:51.58] <%tBot> Akvan: 11 ([5] +6)
[00:52.01] <+Akvan> perception
[00:52.04] <+Akvan> using the fire magic
[00:52.05] <Couplet> "Not just rats and dead things...is there anything bigger down here?"
[00:52.06] <+Akvan> vision
[00:52.14] * You are now known as Kallias
[00:52.21] <Kallias> "Not...usually."
[00:52.21] <+Akvan> "Preev... do you sense anything? We might not be alone down here."
[00:52.33] <+Akvan> "Kir?"
[00:52.34] * Melchior considers if there is anything that she did to stabilize time in the Te Ghlimhe portal that could be applied here.
[00:52.38] * Kir casts his eyes to the darnkness
[00:52.39] * Repriever has been talking to Kir and hasn't been paying attention, but now does so.
[00:52.40] <+Kir> perception
[00:52.41] <+Melchior> ?roll 1d20+18
[00:52.41] <%tBot> Melchior: 38 ([20] +18)
[00:52.45] <+Melchior> Spellcraft. :D
[00:52.47] <+Kir> ?roll 1d20+16
[00:52.47] <%tBot> Kir: 29 ([13] +16)
[00:52.55] <+Repriever> [detect evil, folks]
[00:52.59] <+Repriever> [and make apastron pay for it]
[00:53.01] <+Kir> [with night/infrared vision]
[00:53.41] <+Kir> "Kallias, Shala, stay safe"
[00:53.51] * Kir indicates for them to move to the center of the formation
[00:53.56] * Akvan slowly intensifies his light, until the area is brightly lit
[00:54.09] <+Repriever> "Shala's the safest one here."
[00:54.16] <+Melchior> "I wouldn't worry Kir, this portal's too well constrained to rip itself out of sync with time."
[00:54.36] * Akvan tosses the glowing sphere of light into the air
[00:54.37] * Kir nods as he loads a rifle with heavy buckshot
[00:54.44] <+Akvan> "DO you see anything, Kir?"
[00:54.48] * Repriever draws his sword, casting pale light into the room.
[00:54.54] <+Repriever> "There is something down here."
[00:55.16] * Akvan 's lights cast sharp shadows as it burns brightly above us
[00:55.18] * Kallias turns, cloak swirling as he looks back down into the darkness of the sewer tunnels.
[00:55.19] * Shala_ (IceChat9@cpe-97-98-83-80.stx.res.rr.com) Quit (Ping timeout: 121 seconds)
[00:55.24] <+Melchior> "Is there?"
[00:55.25] <Kallias> "There are many possibilities."
[00:55.26] * Melchior uses aura sight.
[00:55.28] <+Kir> [kallias, do I see anything? rolled that 29]
[00:55.38] <+Repriever> "It's hiding, very well. We need to get through."
[00:55.42] <+Akvan> [It's bright, not dark no more!]
[00:55.50] <+Akvan> "Any idea what it is? It might not be safe for the city"
[00:55.54] <Kallias> Neither Kir nor Melchior sense anything. Whatever it was, it has retreated.
[00:56.00] <Kallias> "A small undead."
[00:56.06] <Kallias> "Perhaps a fragment of the Eyeless."
[00:56.08] <+Akvan> "Do you still smell it, Couplet?"
[00:56.13] * You are now known as Couplet
[00:56.17] <Couplet> "Not...as well..."
[00:56.24] <+Akvan> "It's watching us, then. Waiting."
[00:56.34] <Couplet> "I will watch the portal behind you."
[00:56.37] <Couplet> says Kallias.
[00:56.41] * You are now known as Kallias
[00:56.46] <+Kir> "Send for help"
[00:56.48] <+Akvan> "We'll keep watches going until the portal is ready. Kallias, can you get out of here safely once we're through?"
[00:56.52] <+Kir> "We need this clear"
[00:56.55] <Kallias> "I can."
[00:56.59] <Kallias> "Would you like me to destroy it?"
[00:57.09] <+Akvan> "The Portal? or the undead?"
[00:57.10] <Kallias> "Once you're through."
[00:57.12] <+Kir> "Portal?"
[00:57.12] <Kallias> "The portal."
[00:57.15] <+Akvan> "No."
[00:57.21] <+Akvan> "We may need to get back here."
[00:57.25] <+Akvan> "UNless...."
[00:57.28] * Akvan looks at preev
[00:57.32] <+Kir> "But take it apart"
[00:57.42] <+Repriever> "The Eyeless may be waiting to follow us through."
[00:57.44] <Kallias> "Alright."
[00:57.46] <+Melchior> "It may be smart to have a swift and remote way to rip the keystone capstone out."
[00:57.53] <+Melchior> "Just as a matter of practice."
[00:58.09] <+Kir> "Take out keystone after we go, immediately"
[00:58.11] * Kallias inserts the keystone.
[00:58.22] <Kallias> Silvery liquid metal covers the surface.
[00:58.22] <+Kir> "We can find our own way back"
[00:58.23] * Repriever keeps his vision on the aura scale.
[00:58.27] <+Kir> "Or message if not"
[00:58.29] <Kallias> "Through quickly, then."
[00:58.48] <+Repriever> "Wait."
[00:58.50] * Akvan goes first through
[00:58.57] * Kir takes the activation disk in one hand, hefting the loaded shotgun in the other, and steps through as soon as he can
[00:59.00] <+Melchior> "Wait for what?"
[00:59.04] * Repriever touches Kallias, granting him Grace.
[00:59.05] <+Melchior> "The longer we keep this open the worse."
[00:59.06] * Akvan barely hears preev's wait before he's passed through
[00:59.13] <+Repriever> "Go."
[00:59.16] * Melchior follows through.
[00:59.30] <Kallias> "Thank you, Repriever."
[00:59.32] <+Repriever> [grace gives him movement without AOO if the thing lunges]
[00:59.34] * Kir immediately takes stock of the surroundings once through
[00:59.37] <+Kir> perception
[00:59.47] <+Kir> ?roll 1d20+16
[00:59.47] <%tBot> Kir: 34 ([18] +16)
[01:00.12] * Akvan stands tall, baring the brand on his forehead for all to see
[01:00.16] <+Akvan> if there is anyone to see
[01:01.21] * Kir whispers something to Repriever once they're all through
[01:01.33] <+Kir> The others might hear it though
[01:01.36] * You are now known as Couplet
[01:01.38] * Repriever comes through near the back, wafting fresh lavender into the room.
[01:01.39] * Shala_ (IceChat9@cpe-97-98-83-80.stx.res.rr.com) has joined channel #nesdnd
[01:01.42] <Couplet> "Good luck, Kallias."
[01:02.01] * You are now known as DM
[01:02.08] * DM passes through.
[01:02.09] <+Kir> "I saw some motion back there, small, distant, fast, and utterly black"
[01:02.11] <DM> Couplet*
[01:02.20] <+Repriever> "So did I."
[01:02.26] <DM> After the last of them pass, Kallias stands in the darkness.
[01:02.31] <+Kir> "You know what I think?"
[01:02.32] <+Repriever> "I hope Kallias has enough tricks up his sleeve to escape."
[01:02.33] <+Kir> "Madei"
[01:02.44] <DM> He carefully removes the keystone.
[01:02.48] <DM> He looks down at it, considering.
[01:03.00] <DM> "Stone shape."
[01:03.07] * Repriever doesn't respond to the Madei prompt.
[01:03.23] <DM> He breaks it apart and scatters it in pieces throughout the room.
[01:03.30] <+Akvan> D:
[01:03.41] <DM> "We'll make a new one if they need to come back."
[01:03.56] <DM> "Too risky otherwise."
[01:04.41] <DM> A voice echoes in the darkness behind him, and Kallias starts before slowly turning.
[01:04.56] <DM> "Smart man."
[01:05.10] <+Akvan> (He ded. Like OMG ded.
[01:05.26] <DM> He barely has time to turn before the hand pierces his chest cavity.
[01:05.51] <DM> His face registers shock, pain, a trickle of blood down the corner of his mouth...
[01:06.10] <DM> And then the body double evaporates into mist.
[01:06.11] <+Akvan> (For what it's worth, the light should still be up
[01:06.23] <+Repriever> [inquistor powers]
[01:06.29] <+Melchior> [Kallias too smart to get taken like a chump]
[01:07.05] <DM> The flickering of the torchlight reflects on the coal-black skin of the naked woman as she stares down at the empty, wet stone between her toes.
[01:07.15] <DM> Eaten up by its blackness.
[01:07.21] <+Repriever> [ooh]
[01:07.23] <DM> "Oh," says Zathindra.
[01:07.55] <DM> Elsewhere, the real Kallias opens his eyes immediately.
[01:08.19] <DM> He tries to stop his body from shaking.
[01:08.28] <DM> "I need Plainchant," he says.
[01:09.15] <DM> Elsewhere.
[01:09.39] <DM> A man stands, peering down at a map table.
[01:09.56] <DM> His uniform is immaculate and pure white, as virgin snow.
[01:10.06] <DM> As his hair, and close-cropped beard.
[01:10.41] <DM> "Your report, grand captain," he offers, as the white tarcirath enters and salutes.
[01:11.17] <DM> "Prince-General. We've separated the gold and the blue contingents, and posted them on opposite ends of the front. For now, it will suffice."
[01:11.27] <DM> "For now," he echoes, skeptically.
[01:11.42] <DM> "And the casualties?"
[01:12.19] <DM> "Light. Only seven velcirath, and one tarcirath wounded near the southern walls. Her leg is broken, it will heal by morning."
[01:12.34] <DM> "Pull them back to the walls."
[01:12.42] <DM> "...my prince?"
[01:12.52] <DM> "All of them. All fronts."
[01:12.56] * Kir (6b4de0aa@ircip2.mibbit.com) Quit (Quit: ＋http://www.mibbit.com， ajax IRC Client)
[01:13.05] <DM> "But...the ice-melting."
[01:13.28] <DM> "We are losing dragons, every day, and seeing them rise and turn against us the next."
[01:13.36] <DM> "Every patch of ground we gain, is a loss."
[01:14.00] <DM> "Our fighting spirit is high, sir."
[01:14.09] <DM> "Marvelous," he says, with gusto.
[01:14.23] <DM> "And it will be needed."
[01:14.27] <DM> "But pull them back."
[01:14.47] <DM> "As you say, my prince."
[01:15.12] <DM> "And call a general staff meeting in the old Elydian dome. One hour from now."
[01:15.33] <DM> "To discuss the new strategy, Prince-General?"
[01:15.46] <DM> "No."
[01:15.55] <DM> "For a reception."
[01:16.05] <DM> Illian pauses.
[01:16.21] <DM> "I smell lavender, here."
[01:16.25] <DM> End session.