IC: Reclaiming the Void Options

[Buddha72]

D'zan feels the nostalgia sweep over him and the life so long ago over the seas - he remembers the others and their life in the great green of the wild but the happiness he found there was so shallow for him.

"We seek a better understanding of the task laid before us and what has changed in this place - why He reaches from this place to our world. As to the price I humbly ask for your wisdom in offering a gift worthy of the knowledge we seek."

[JxJxA]

Upon hearing his fathers voice speak Nahuatl to him, Uetz does a double-take. "The voice is right, but this does not seem to be the right place for Father to speak to me," he thinks to himself, slipping back to his native tongue in his mind, "what do you think, Sister Eagle?"

"Play along or let the others take the lead," Quauhtli replies, "as we are the strangers in this land, and do your best to keep from offending our hosts."

He agrees with Quauhtli, and feels more at ease---as much as a someone in a strange metaplane can be---once D'zan takes the lead.

[BishopMcQ]

All

"All worlds are reflections of the others. Change in one world will cause ripples in the others. These questions can be answered, if the Mortal or Fox will bear my eyes into the light. The God-Touched's shadow bears another's mark and it cannot be a creature from outside your creation to bear our influence to your land. Do this and we shall speak plainly."

As the voice speaks, Argent and Papa have the sense that someone is looking at them, though no creature stands between the pillars.

[JxJxA]

"God-Touched?" Uetz muses mentally.

"I suppose this oracle can sense our devotion to the Nahuatl Gods," replies Quauhtli, "Fortunately for us, it does not see that as an affront to him...her... It?"

"Um," Uetz says to the rest of the group, his mind switching again from Nahuatl to English, "I believe someone has to bear its eyes. Based on the names it is using for us, I do not believe I can bear them. Nor D'zan. I believe that leaves you two." He looks at Argent and Papa.

"May the Gods give them the sense not to see this as PITO fodder," mumbles Quauhtli through their shared link.

[Buddha72]

D'zan hovers closer to Argent and Papa as he speaks in a low and hushed tone.

"These beings most likely exists at a junction of several different realities that allows them to bypass the protections most would use to keep them from seeing or knowing what happens. They would be limited in scope somehow though - I suspect these ones can only see shadowed or dark places so the offer to carry their sight elsewhere has value for them. It would allow them to see things otherwise unknown to them."

Leo reading the rest of what his companion knows in the freely shared thoughts that pass between them joins in the discussion.

"The questions you need to ask is what happens to you when you carry their eyes, how long you would need to carry them and what happens when you are finished. Have a care - you can give things here a foothold in places they should not be by acting as an agent in this manner. Also where you may be asked to carry them. Taking something not mortal into yourself can be more intimate than you want."

[Fenris]

Argent blanches at the things suggestion, already glancing around for Leo even as the voice speaks. The voice the thing use was...odd. Argent's father had been a fox, there was never a voice to attribute to him, at least not one that spoke mortal words. The sense of him pervaded the words though, dredging up nostalgic smells and half-remembered images of a life he hardly even considered his own anymore.

Leo's words are a splash of cold water on his wandering thoughts, and he turns back to the creature, the speaker...the thing that had so enthralled him with mere tone. His grin comes back to his lips, some hint of the 'runners previous confidence returning. A deal? He could broker a deal anywhere.

"We'll agree, but on certain terms. First you tell us exactly what we're carrying, how much influence it will have over us, and what we would or could be forced to do to comply, and what happens when we're finished. And the deal is finite...once we've finished our escort, all of whatever it is we brought with us goes back, whether it's with us or not, regardless of where or how it might have separated or came to be."

[BishopMcQ]

All

"A secret cannot be untold once it is spoken, our Knowing must remain as long as the secrets are known. You will be carrying our Knowing, a thing that feeds our thoughts and gives us the secrets that it knows. You must bear it in all places that your mind will travel, do so willingly and it will have no influence. Do so unwillingly and it will find a home. When the secrets are again unknown to your world, the Knowing will return to this place."

As the voice resonates in your minds and across your skin, you see an obsidian stone appear on one of the nearby pillar fragments. Thinking back, you realize that it has been there the whole time but the shadows shifted to make it more obvious.

[Redjack]

Papa stands silently, towering over his teammates. In this place, playing the fool troll seems not to provide the benefits as back home. He listens to the the dialog intently. Us? Possession?

Listening to the exact words and playing them over again in his mind, one piece "What, exactly, are the secrets? And how will they become unknown in our world?"

[BishopMcQ]

All

"The secrets are the answers that you have come to seek from us. They will be unknown when none of those knowing them are left to speak them."

[Fenris]

"Only two are fit as vessels, but you would require a deal that intertwines the fate of all. Let it last only until the carrier can no longer speak the secrets, and then the Knowing will be returned. And the Knowing must allow for situations in which it would cost us our lives to carry it hence. A Bearer is no bearer if he is dead. Let the Knowing allow for these times, knowing that we will not willingly deceive it about these, and let the Knowing return with the end of the single vessel, and the deal will be struck."

[BishopMcQ]

All

"Though only two are fit, the others will know the secrets. If they choose to have the knowledge struck from their minds upon your passing, or to leave the mortal realms and serve their lieges, the Knowing will return when the bearers are no more.

Yea, if bearing the Knowing will truthfully cost the bearers their lives, then leaving it in safety will be acceptable. Though upon first breath of safety, the bearers must seek to take it up again. If the deal is struck, take up the Knowing and speak your questions."

The stone gleams with reflected twilight. Beyond the ruins, you can see the fog has rolled in as a thick wall. The other diviners are lost from vision.

[Redjack]

Papa raises a hand to his chin and gently rubs it. Like an A.I.

Speaking to the entity, "Ain't no assurances in life; Mama taught me that. Sometimes words are gold and other times air. Guess we'll see the weight of yours. I'm in." He looks to the mages, "Ask your questions."

[Fenris]

Argent reaches out, shrugging with a grin at the rest of the group. "Guess this means you have to protect me, at least until we're done here, right?" He scoops up the obsidian stone, cringing in a slightly melodramatic fashion as he picks it up.

[BishopMcQ]

Argent
As the stone touches your skin, you feel a warmth spread across the inside of you--like the warm breeze of a summer night trapped within your body. Looking out at the space around you, there are a thousand worlds overlapping in the space between the columns. The fog pulses with a purple vein of will and energy, you instantly know that it is alive and hungry. The disfigured statue melts away in your vision, and only the golden rune pulses with raw need.

Then the vision snaps back to your normal sight.

Team
Looking at Argent you see his eyes turn solid obsidian as he takes the stone and places it in his pants pocket.

[Redjack]

Papa's fly spies pop out beginning to record the end of Argent's transformation. When complete Papa looks for a second stone, turning the camera's on himself.

[Buddha72]

D'zan looks at Argent and smiles softly at his transformation. Leo flies closer to the fox shapeshifter quietly asking him how he feels and looking him over for any other changes.

"It suits you."

D'zan rubs his hand together and faces the oracle - face light up with curiosity. His voice is liquid and moves through the air like a lover's caress as he begins to ask questions.

"What has changed with my Lord and why has he reached from this place to the world we hail from?"

[BishopMcQ]

All

"Thy lord does not reach from this place, but uses agents from here. The change comes from another world, offering a new balance to the courts which the Huntsman finds appealing. The shadows tasted a remnant of the knowledge when he spoke to you through the mirror. They could not pry your mind."

[Buddha72]

'Ooooooooooookay.Who or what do we hunt in our world? I have been given the means to pursue his prey but I would know what I am seeking."

[BishopMcQ]

All

"It is most likely that you seek a great tome, known to some as the Book of Enoch, or the letters of creation. There are many versions spread throughout your world, though the original could grant one the ability to exist beyond death. If there are other things you seek, describe them to us and we will tell you what they are called."

[Buddha72]

D'zan pauses taking the last bit of information in before speaking again.

"Taste of blood and stone, the beating heart. Sound of wings and wind, the stolen feather. What are these things?"

[JxJxA]

"Book of Enoch...creation story...would that be anything like the 'Book of the People?' What the Mayans called the 'Popol Vuh?'" Uetz thinks aloud.

[BishopMcQ]

All

For a moment, the voices build up and they are indistinguishable from one another. They quickly die back down to the single voice speaking to you.

"There is a stone, black as night and veined with rubies. Your world has many names for it, but it is best known as the 'Lover's heart.' In the hands of a mortal it grants all that they dream for, but not what those who knew them think they would want. It binds one of the Endless into your realm and holds her hostage to live two existences.

"The feather was that taken from Samael before his fall or perhaps before his rise. Time for beings such as it, does not flow the way it does for you. It was taken by the cthonic lords and given to Tezcatlipoca when your people still dug in the mud.

"No, God-touched. The Popol Vuh is a broken remnant--truth diluted too far to be seen as such. Many of the ancient works in your creation are this way. The Book of Enoch, in its original form is the truth of how your kind became mortal and how to break free of the cycle again."

[Buddha72]

D'zan turns towards the others.

"I had a vision or waking dream from the Huntsman where those three objects were named to me in verse. I think we are suppose to gather them for him which leads to the question - why does he seek these objects and for what could they be used?"

He ends the last sentence looking to the oracle again.

[BishopMcQ]

All

"The Huntsman is wise and does not keep counsel in the shadows. Though he cannot speak lies, the words spoken for our knowing, taste false. There are many things that could be done with the items separately. Together, they could give the Wild Hunt the power to hunt any being beyond the stretches of time and render immortal beings mortal. None who rose the Erlking's ire would ever truly be safe.

"In the hands of others, far worse things could happen. It is the nature of the being that will dictate its course."

[Buddha72]

Leo speaks quietly to Uetz while the oracle answers.

"Who or what is Tezcatlipoca? I admit I know very little about that pantheon."

D'zan looks quickly to Leo with an expression of thanks and approval at his question. He sits with the answer a moment before speaking again.

"Do others seek these objects? And if so, what do you know about them?"