IC: Reclaiming the Void Options

[BishopMcQ]

All

"There are many who seek these items, without knowing all that they do. The most dangerous seeker, is the agent of the Endless. Mortals from your world breached the gap and showed that the Gallery was no longer sealed. Now, the Endless seek to close the doorway to the Mansions of Silence permanently from your world.

"The being is exceptionally old, powerful, and bound to an oath. The terms of that service are unknown to all but the Endless."

[Buddha72]

A complete look of confusion passes over D'zan's face as he turns to the rest of the group.

"Who the fuck are the Endless? Anyone? Anyone?"

[JxJxA]

Uetz's face falls at the oracle's mention of Tezcatlipoca. He whispers to himself to a benediction taught to him by his parents to banish away whatever bad luck might come from just saying the malevolent god's name. When Leo asks him about Tezcatlipoca, he takes a deep breath and separates the facts from superstitious fears before answering.

"Tezcatlipoca is the brother of Quetzalcoatl and helped create our world, but those are the only similarities between him and the kind and benevolent Feathered Serpent. He is known by many names, but the most fitting are 'The Ever Devouring Darkness,' 'The Enemy,' and 'The Lord of Near and Far.' If he is involved in whatever we must face, then we must be careful in everything we say and do."

[Fenris]

Argent blinks as the questions go back and forth, and significant information seems to flash from more educated mage to more educated mage. He glances at Papa, giving the troll a half shrug as questions are asked and answered, and he half the party is no more informed for all that.

"Look, I'm not totally up on all this myth and legend stuff, but based on that things answers, aren't we doing the world a favor by turning around and going home?"

[BishopMcQ]

Argent

A second after your reply, answers fill your mind. There is a warm breeze along in the inside of your skull.

The Endless are unending ideals, Platonic Forms given life or the embodiment of such that Plato realized. One such is trapped within the heart-shaped stone, as Desire.

You see that D'zan has no choice in this matter, due to the oath sworn in the dark and shadowy passageways of your last existence.

You see a woman, the perfect woman in shape, wearing a simple black gown that accentuates the perfection. A small golden locket rests in the hollow of her throat on a light chain. At her feet, a small ork boy has a huge slash across his left arm and a butcher knife in his right. The wound is clearly self-inflicted, but there is no blood anywhere in the picture.

The breeze stops, but the memories are trapped in your mind.

[Fenris]

Argent seems to still for a moment, his body going motionless for one long instant before he abruptly shakes his head, as if trying to clear the cobwebs.

Didn't realize I'd be signing up for a ~second~ voice inside my head.

"Hey, uh, so, I think I just answered my own questions. These...these Endless, they're like these personifications of ideas or something. There's one in a heart shaped rock that's called 'Desire'. And I guess..." he glances a D'zan, "And we pretty much have to help, because of what D'zan did to get us out of the tunnel alive."

He looks away, a look of intense guilt crossing his features, hanging his head, unwilling to look at any of the other members. "And there's a girl, with a locket, and an orc boy with a knife." he mumbles.

[Redjack]

Papa stands by Argent waiting for the stone to be passed across. The conversation of a book potentially holding immortality momentarily catches his attention.

As Argent suddenly comes up with his own answers. Puzzled, he looks to Argent with an outstretched hand. "Can I see that?"

[Buddha72]

Leo nods as Uetz speaks - his face looking a little grim when he mentions what exactly qualities this being is attributed.

"Do you know where we can find this entity or at least contact him?"

[Fenris]

Argent seems caught a bit off guard, but he nods after a moment's hesitation, fishing in his pocket for the obsidian stone to hand to Papa Smurf.

[Redjack]

Papa takes the stone tentatively, not fully sure what to expect.

[BishopMcQ]

All

As the stone leaves Argent's hand, you see a shiver run down his spine and the blackness lifts from his eyes. When Papa takes it, with the fly-spies recording every second, it seems like his skin is infused with shadow. Every fold and crease is filled with darkness, a living shadow. When it is all done, it looks as if there is black grime or dust caught along the cuticles, in each knuckle, and the situation is spread across his body.

Argent
The warmth which has spread through your body suddenly turns to a chill ice and fades as the stone leaves you.

Papa
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.

[Redjack]

Papa takes the stone and stares out at the changing space around him while he simultaneously watches the video feeds, tweaking fly-spy positioning for better video. The part of his brain watching the fog reaches out towards the colors for a split second before retracting his hand. The transformation complete, he holds up the stone, in the palm of his hand, looking at the stone first, then his hands as he half folds in his fingers.

He asks of the entity "Didn't you say two of us would carry this?" as he extends his hand back to Argent to return the stone

[BishopMcQ]

All

"The two of you may carry the Knowing. The others can not. If you both wish to carry it together, simply both touch the Knowing at the same time."

In the distance, you all hear voices though they are muffled by the fog. A collection of small flickering lights--possibly torches--is approaching from the marketplace. They appear to be coming down the path, your group took into the outskirts.

"If you wish to return home, the time is nigh. Ask your final questions, or trust your companions to Know the truth."

Opposite the space between the columns where Those-who-walk-in-darkness seems to exist, another tear in space opens. You see hills, the nighttime sky, and the Los Angeles skyline.

[Buddha72]

D'zan looks to the approaching mob from the market and looks to the portal opened by the oracle. A single thought passes between himself and Leo - an image of home and their bed as he smiles with teeth slightly too sharp to be seen as comforting.

"Who are they and do they oppose us in the hunt?"

[BishopMcQ]

All

"Those that approach with bound effigies are the enforcers of the accord. They do not oppose any accept those who breach the peace of the market place."

[Buddha72]

"Anyone have any final questions - we should scoot back home before whatever that is gets all loud and messy?"

He moves in the direction of the new portal to LA while looking everyone over to see if anyone has anything left to ask.

[JxJxA]

Uetz shakes his head.

"I cannot think of any other questions to ask."

[Fenris]

"Agreed." Argent said, his gaze lingering on Papa Smurf and the transformation that had occurred perhaps a bit too long. The looks back at the mob, his normal grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Looks like we might just be getting in the way here anyway..."

He tugs his coat around him, covered in dirt and roots from the tunnel, and glances around. "Somebody got the box?" he confirms, before stepping through the portal.

[Buddha72]

"You heard him - someone tall and earthbound get the damn thing." D'zan hollers back over his shoulder to the more able members of the team. He pauses in mid-flight for the portal to LA.

"What was the purpose of the vials - payment or something we need to finish the task placed before us by my Lord?" He addresses the oracle one last time almost forgetting to ask in the first place.

Leo gestures for Uetz to make his way to the gateway home and waits to make sure everyone is moving towards it himself.

[JxJxA]

Uetz nods and walks through the portal.

I wonder how Etain and Rene are doing? he says to Quauhtli through their mental link.

Probably fine...so long as they did not manage to burn the house down...

[BishopMcQ]

Saturday -- July 16, 2072
D'zan

"The breath of departed innocence was meant for payment for this task. You may find use for them before the task is complete, though they will not be your only option."

With this, you can feel a shift in the oracle. It is as if it is no longer looking upon you, but focussed on another place.

In LA
Stepping through the portal, there is a moment when you feel darkness pour through you, invading every cell and memory of your being. It passes and you find yourself standing in the warm air of Los Angeles. The air is dry, with a hot Santa Ana wind blowing through. Your body suddenly registers how cold it has been wandering through the market and the fog, as the night air is several degrees warmer.

The bizarre sounds and smells are gone. Now it is the quiet of the hills, and the distant din of traffic and a lively city. Matrix coverage is patchy, but you find that by moving a few steps you can get into full coverage, only to have it drop again a few steps later.

Papa
Your commlink registers the local matrix and you watch it automatically connecting with your last settings. Files immediately begin replicating themselves from your hard storage to your secure online backups.

//Welcome back!
//It has been 3 days, 17 hours, 12 minutes since your last connection.
//Would you like to update your user profile?

In the lower area of your vision, you see the P2.0 icon switch from offline to online. A query comes through for uploading stored video files to your feed.

All

Once you acclimate back to the warmth of the city, there is only one decision left to make. Are you calling an aircab, or trying to scrabble down the hills?

[Redjack]

Papa hesitates looking around with his changed vision before stepping through and back to his reality.

As the feeds come to life and P2.0 fills a corner of his brain, a subconscious smile fills Papa face from ear to ear. He quickly begins the updates to his profile, documenting his adventures without giving all the details or exposing members of the team. As he begins to note the flake in the matrix signal, he deploys his fly-spies in order to create a relay net always hold one in a strong signal while the other seeks the next relay point.

As he speaks, he also looks around to see if any new senses manifest here in the real-world. "Where to?"

[Buddha72]

"Yah and where the hell are we?"

D'zan flies up a 15 feet or so to get a better view of the their surroundings. While in the air he opens himself to the feeling that tied him to his prey in the Market - that which his Lord would say run to ground and laid low before the Great Hunt.

Leo stays with the others casting a single concerned look to his companion above.

"Where should we go? Back to the house to plan our next course of action? Or perhaps seek more information about the information imparted from the oracle?"

[BishopMcQ]

Papa
You quickly rebuild a mesh connection to the matrix with the fly-spies. It looks like the some of the signal towers are being blocked by rocky outcroppings along the hill. once you have a signal connected through the fly-spy, you can move anywhere along the hill without a problem. The video files from the drones feed through your standard editing routine and slowly upload into the P2.0 feed supporting your profile updates.

Looking across the city, you see a giant net of blue and purple lines. Beneath your feet, you can sense tunnels and feel the thrum of power. At Leo's mention of the house, your vision focuses on a distant point of the horizon--there is a sensation of falling forward as if a telescopic lens zoomed in too fast. You see the reflected light of fire service trucks in the windows of the house across the street from your team's joint residence.

D'zan

The instant you focus your thoughts upon your prey, you feel the pull. West and south into the city, the smell of old leather and musty parchment. North beyond mountains and rivers, in a great lake surrounded by cliffs. Far to the south and east, among jungles and great standing stones.

[JxJxA]

"I would like to go home first. I left my commlink in my room, and I have no idea how long it has been since we have been there last. As much as I appreciate the company of Etain and Rene, it is possible that they have eaten everything we have stored at the house," Uetz says.

"Also, I think I need to water my plants..."