Into the Dark

[kenod]

Karin gave him an uncertain look. "I'm not sure on the value of those beads, but from what I saw... As a rough estimate, probably somewhere in between buying yourself a skyscraper and buying yourself a Great Guild." She looked at the pool behind them. The thought of what was down there scared her more than any monster could. Monsters you could deal with, but this... Fighting between the guilds might even be good, compared with the alternative. The fighting would be bad enough, but a single group or individual getting hold on what was down there? That could be worse, way worse, if the value of the metal reached into the higher areas of her estimate.

[Voidus]

Laurelai watched the eerily stationary pool of liquid as Lita stared into its depths, at first she wasn't sure what Lita was talking about. Want to what? Examine it certainly, but pools of mysterious liquid were not something that you could just jump into without investigation. What if it was some kind of acid?

But as she stared she felt the pull, the faint desire to submerge herself beneath this liquid growing stronger and stronger. It called, promising something, something very valuable if they just touched it, just reached into the falling liquid and stepped into the pool. It would be able to help her, help them.

She shook her head, staggering backwards a step. She could still feel the call of the pool but it was fainter now, less insistent. Whatever it was, it had been an outside force attempting to influence their minds. And doing what a mysterious voice in your head told you to do was rarely a good idea, especially if that voice came from a mysterious pool of liquid. The last time Laurelai was aware of something like that happening, the Ascended Warrior had accidentally released Ruin into the world.

"Be careful." She warned in a whisper, staring suspiciously.at the water. "From what we heard they've lost a lot of people in these caverns already."

[+Sorana]

On 30.11.2019 at 5:14 PM, Ookla the Foxed said:

Karin gave him an uncertain look. "I'm not sure on the value of those beads, but from what I saw... As a rough estimate, probably somewhere in between buying yourself a skyscraper and buying yourself a Great Guild." She looked at the pool behind them. The thought of what was down there scared her more than any monster could. Monsters you could deal with, but this... Fighting between the guilds might even be good, compared with the alternative. The fighting would be bad enough, but a single group or individual getting hold on what was down there? That could be worse, way worse, if the value of the metal reached into the higher areas of her estimate.

Althea turned to Karin when she climbed out of the Well again and listened to everybody talking. Max was coming, well, at least that offered another possibilty to solve this solution. He could easily get rid of the Atium here without the need to collapse the cavern.

"Karin." She started, carefully considered her words, while staying where she was at Wes side. "Do you think those you associate with would be willing to take it?" She asked, tried to remain vague about Karin's affiliation. She wasn't sure how many knew, although if the others had followed Karin's actions and her abilities it would be easy to guess. The atium was powerful, but onyl as long as it ended up with people willing to use it, or with those that needed the edge. If it stayed with those, that could make use of it, but didn't need it to maintain their place in the balance of power, then that might be a good solution. They were so powerful already, she doubted that the atium would really change anything if you considered the larger picture. At least it was one, that prevented a war between the other guilds and she wasn't sure if they could come up with something better soon enough to prevent a huge leak. Additionally the DA was the one guild she trusted to keep this cave save from intruders.

[kenod]

Karin shrugged, thinking back to Corette's message. "That's probably a good assumption." She said. "My department specifically probably isn't interested, they're probably more interested in the ecosystem here, but some of the other departments would love it." She thought for a second, looking at Althea. "Why are you asking?"

[+ZincAboutIt]

"Yes," Lita murmured, her fingers still outstretched. "Lost."

The water continued to pour down, inches from her hand, and the lure on her mind, her soul only grew stronger. There was a source here, something deep and old, something that could give her everything she had ever wanted. Knowledge. Power. Understanding of the type that few ever even glimpsed, let alone held within their grasp. It could be hers, if she just stepped under that water --

Several things happened at once. Her right foot slid forward, toe catching on a lip of stone that she had missed with her attention so fully glued to the stream of pouring water. The right pocket of her trousers, the pocket that held her Alleycant pen, started twitching and vibrating so hard she thought it might actually tear through the seams. And the left pocket of her vest suddenly burned so hot she was sure it had seared a mark into her flesh.

Lita jammed her fingers into her vest pocket, cursing and clutching the Coin in her left hand, siphoning as much heat as she could into the bracers on her arms, the rings on her ears, even the reinforced brass heels of her boots. As she did so, her right foot stopped short on the lip of stone, and she pitched forward for one moment, her right hand flailing out to catch something, anything, before her mind screamed at her to flare her Pewter. She did so, spinning on the ball of her right foot, executing something like half a pirouette before she regained her balance and stepped neatly back onto her left foot.

Right into the pool of still, glassy water.

Her boot sunk into the water, which reached halfway up her calf and was oddly, pleasantly, warm. Not quite warm as a bath, but warmer than she'd have ever expected an underground waterfall to be. Before she could even begin to register that she had stepped into a pool of obviously-Invested liquid, Lita's momentum carried her backwards just enough for the gentle rainfall of water to splash right down onto the top of her head.

Time slowed to a crawl that made chasms from the space between her heartbeats. Lita's body, the cavern, the world, became a half-frozen churn of slush. But her mind... Her mind exploded outwards. Lita could still feel the echo of heat in her left hand, the heat of the Coin. She focused on it now, on that mystery, the knowledge that had been required to make it, the properties it held that she couldn't even begin to fathom.

But she could fathom them now, and as easily as breathing, Lita realized that she knew everything there was to know about that Coin. She knew each alloy, each property of Investiture, each interlocking bit of power and magic and metal that the Stranger had folded into this talisman. And suddenly all his cryptic talk of luck and transportation and communication was laid as bare as if she had watched its creation herself. 

With her thoughts directed towards the Coin, it was only a short jump to the heart of all her questions, all her burning ambitions, that singular and defining figure that had moved in and out of the shadows of her dreams and her nightmares ever since that first morning in the Alleys. The Stranger, with his one spiked eye and his one pit of darkness, a god and a demon and an implacable will that was deeper than any ocean. His promises of truth, of the hidden secrets of the cosmos that were there for the taking - if she were willing to pay the price. Like he had. It had been so easy for him to read her hunger, her pain; surely, he must be intimately acquainted with his own. 

She could see him now in clear and perfect detail, though her physical eyes were still glued to the pale oval of Laurelai's face in the gloom of the Chapel of Rain. This was another kind of sight, a truer kind. Deeper. She saw him wreathed in darkness and solitude, a great iron hammer in one hand, his vast and terrible will focused on the metal before him, striking it again and again and again as though he might undo each and every one of his errors with every blow. Lita saw it then, for one long-stretched moment: the shape of his plan, the design of the metal that warped and twisted and sparked beneath his hands and his mind and his power. He was building a new world. A new universe. She could see it now, and though a part of her mind quailed with the terror of it, an equal portion gloried at the audacity of it all, his arrogance and his absolute rusting surety that this was the right thing to do. No, not even the right thing. This was above morality. It was simply a thing that would be done, because he willed it so. Because who else could?

Lita's heart had almost begun to contract for another pulse, sending another wave of blood through her body. Even now, that momentum that had carried her into the stream of water was carrying her out. But in that place of her mind, time was hot taffy, and it spooled out and out and out between her hands. She reached out casually, almost lazily, and sent her whirling thoughts, all the molten liquid jumble of emotion and ambition and awe and terror and realization through the Coin toward its maker. @Fatebreaker

Then, as her second heartbeat elapsed, physics held its sway over Lita and carried her out of the stream of water. Her right foot stepped back to the other side of the pool, and she staggered, the world suddenly speeding up in a blinding rush and sending a wave of vertigo and nausea cresting over her. Lita staggered, burning Pewter and Tin and gagging once before her right hand met the cool stone of the back wall of the grotto. Lita blinked, unsure why her head felt so odd, why her heart was pounding as though she had just run a great distance. There was an odd sensation in the back of her mind, as though she were forgetting something important. She looked down at her boots, then ran a hand through her hair.

Did I...? She looked back at the stream of water, then gave her head a little shake. Must have just missed it. Lita replayed the last few seconds in her mind: she'd tripped, stepped backwards, almost fallen, and now here she was. So why did it feel as though she'd done far more than just step backwards? She opened her left hand and stared at the Coin, which was now heavy and cool as always. Another violent twitch from her right pocket snapped her attention back into the physical, and she took out her Alleycant pen with a slight frown, taking a moment to decipher the message.

It was Tanarav, from Acquisitions, demanding to know her location and asking if Laurelai was with her. Top brass demands immediate response, do not delay. What is your location?

Lita looked back across the cave toward Laurelai, her frown deepening. Was Mac working with the Head of Acquisitions on something? And why go through Tanarav when Mac had her personal Alleycant channel?

Confirming that Laurelai is with me. Current location not entirely known, somewhere in the new cavern system. Logged the exploration with DoCI Dept. Head. It's some place call the 'Chapel of Rain.' Why?

The reply came quickly, Tanarav's words terse and frenzied even through the transmission. Lita stood there, replaying it in her mind a few times. Then, a few more. She looked back to the pen, her heart starting to race again, the beginnings of a wild smile forming at the edges of her mouth. "Holy rusting hell," she whispered, staring at the slender length of wood and metal in her hand. She looked up at Laurelai, all traces of discomfort gone for the moment.

"Atium," she said, and the word sounded strange in this place, echoing off the walls. "Laurelai, they found a whole rusting cave of Atium down here."

@Voidus

[+Sorana]

7 minutes ago, Ookla the Foxed said:

Karin shrugged, thinking back to Corette's message. "That's probably a good assumption." She said. "My department specifically probably isn't interested, they're probably more interested in the ecosystem here, but some of the other departments would love it." She thought for a second, looking at Althea. "Why are you asking?"

"Because if your organization takes it, we can take it out of the equation." She replied and added an explanation. "Infinity plus is still infinity." Hopefully Karin would be able to follow her trail of thought. The DA was outside the balance, all in all so incredibly powerful, that the atium wouldn't be able to upset the balance. Because there was no balance between the DA and the others. It would strengthen them, but in the end it didn't matter. The whole world existed because of them. Give or take some atium, the situation itself wouldn't change.

"Additionally I would trust you to keep it out of the hands of others." She extended her hands to indicate the whole cave. "Like you said, the potential that rests here can easily destroy the balance we maintain between the guilds and it can upset our economy. To collapse the cavern is only a short time solution, I agree with you in that regard. The easiest way to prevent all of this is to remove the atium from the table completely." And we are already at your mercy anyway. She finished her sentence silently. She didn't really mind, it was just the way things were. The DA was a part of the world, just like letters were a part of writing.

Edited December 2, 2019 by Ookla the Dreamer

[kenod]

Karin nodded. "I understand," she said. "Still, something like this is way above my pay grade. That's something the department heads need to resolve." She shook her head. "Besides..." Her voice trailed off as she looked around at the walls, looking at the mesmerizing lights that came from the crystals, lost in thought, thinking about what would happen to this place, to it's beauty, no matter which guild got their hands on it.

Finally she turned back to Althea. "Besides," she continued, a wry smile on her face that looked forced, "do you really think the rest of the city will agree with that? I personally don't mind the idea, if it will avoid a guild-war, but do you really think the other groups would be willing to just let us have this? There are enough people in the city who won't accept this this treasure just disappearing, especially not to group as disliked as the DA. I mean, I'm aware that you have a lot of clout yourself, but do you really think you can convince the Ghostbloods to go along with this? And that's not even speaking about a group like TUBA." She shook her head, looking more serious. "No, I don't think that will be accepted, and no matter how powerful the DA is there is a limit to what we can do to keep this place, at least as long as we don't want to unleash another guild war."

[+ElephantEarwax]

Adren shook his head, and cleared his throat, "Each person here worked to get here, and should take a few beads. maybe 5... That shouldn't start a guild war and we all worked to get here, but that wouldn't account for all the Atium. Althea, when you elsecall, could you take another person with you?"

"What are you going to do?" Jethro whispered silently.

"I'm not sure yet." Adren thought back.

@Ookla the Dreamer

[+Sorana]

Pensively Althea considered Karin's words. That she doubted that the DA could keep the Atium save without starting another guild war was an interesting tidbit of information, she filed away for later use. You never knew when it might come in handy. A part of her delighted at the discussion, at the situation, that they had to find a solution to the problem, one that made everybody happy. And another part wished they had never found this.

"TUBA isn't even here." She replied, "At least not officially. Nor are many of the other guilds. And I don't know about you, but I can't argue on their behalf and I'm that if we call in a huge council with everybody, we will only complicate the situation further." Although it might be neccessary if they really wanted to devide it in a fair way. She rested her eyes on Karin.

"What do you propose? Can you think of something else?" It was easy to rip apart ideas, but to come up with something better was a lot more difficult. "Apart from destroying all of it." It was another option, but one she wasn't entirely sure if the others would go along with.

Adren adressed her, asked, if she could take someone with her when she elsecalled and she moved a little, so that she could see both him and Karin. "Yes, I can. Why do you ask?"

@Ookla the Foxed

@ElephantEarwax

[kenod]

Karin sighed, feeling frustrated. "No, I don't," she admitted. "Personally, I'd prefer to let the government take care of this place, but they don't have the clout to do so."

[Voidus]

Laurelai stepped quickly towards Lita, skirting around the pool in order to reach her but moving with a quick and efficient grace. She reached her just as Lita seemed to finish a message in Alleycant, looking up excitedly. Laurelai barely had time to register the expression before feeling her own pen begin to vibrate in a none-too-subtle alert that someone was trying to contact her.

She'd raised the pen into position and begun receiving the message just as Lita told her the results of her own and the surprise almost caused Laurelai to drop her pen. They'd found Atium down there? Her gaze quickly shifted to the nearby pool of mysterious liquid, eyeing it suspiciously. Could it be a Shardpool? But that couldn't be, there were no Shards Invested directly into the world to create a Shardpool here. But then that should also prevent any Atium from forming shouldn't it?

Her eyes darted back and forth as she thought, barely paying attention to the request for a locations update from the department of records. Distractedly she sent a reply but her mind was still reeling with the possibilities that these caverns now held. But the more immediate concern was what had happened to Lita, the way she'd staggered after moving through the pool. It hadn't been simply from being off balance, something had happened.

"Not that I'm not incredibly curious about that." Laurelai said. "But are you alright? Did anything happen when you stepped through?"

She watched the pool again, still feeling the draw. Somehow that draw felt even more powerful than the draw of Atium, a legendary metal that was rare even amongst members of the DA. But this liquid pulled at her, promising something even more profound, more powerful than a metal made from the body of a god. Something that made promises like that couldn't be trusted could it? Her pen began vibrating again, another message to receive. But she ignored it, she wasn't a regular field agent at the moment, and even when she was this was a little outside of her area of expertise, it was probably just someone trying to update her.

"I'd thought it possible that it could be a Shardpool." Laurelai ventured cautiously, still eyeing the pool. "If there's Atium here as well... but that wouldn't make sense. Unless you did see something? If you did then- WHAT!?"

She finally broke off, glaring at her pen in irritation. The vibrating had only gotten more insistent, and with numerous different cadences. Records, and at least half a dozen different individuals from counter intelligence, why would so many be trying to contact her?

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita felt a slight heat creep into her cheeks at Laurelai's concern. She must have looked absolutely ridiculous, staggering around, almost tripping over her own feet like an idiot.

Very good, Lita. Respectable - a real field agent, you are.

"I'm fine," Lita muttered testitly, drawing the heat out of her face and into one of the little rings on her right ear. "I didn't even step into it, must have just missed it. Otherwise I'd be all soaking wet, wouldn't I?"

That last question was more for herself than anything, and Lita looked back towards the gentle fall of glowing blue-white water, running another hand over her head. Her hair was completely dry, as was her boot, but she could have sworn... Almost unconsciously, Lita took half a step back towards the pool as Laurelai's words played over and over in the back of her mind.

Unless you did see something. If you did then... then what? 

Nothing had happened, Lita was sure of it. She was sure. The water glowed with a luminous, cool beauty, magnetic. Luring. Lita was suddenly filled with a deep and powerful desire to step back into that water --

Step back in? You never went in to begin with. Right? Lita blinked, then tore her gaze away from the water and back towards Laurelai, who was glaring furiously at her Alleycant pen. Someone, it seemed, was very keen to reach them both. Lita had a rather bad feeling that she knew exactly who it might be.

"I doubt there's anything particularly special about this water," Lita said casually, the words out of her mouth before she had even realized she'd spoken them. An odd, gnawing tendril of something dark wormed its way through her belly at the idea of Laurelai stepping underneath that water. "No need to give it any more thought. I tripped, I'm fine. That's it."

Lita looked back down to her own pen, her brows drawing inward a little as she tried to understand her sudden emotion. "This whole Atium thing sure has kicked the hornet's nest, hmm?"

Jealousy, she realized, flicking green eyes towards Laurelai, a small but fervent portion of herself tearing and screaming at the idea of her friend even touching the water. Even for one moment. Lita quickly hid her own confusion, though she couldn't quite manage to stop her teeth from fretting at the skin of her lips. She was certain that she hadn't touched any of the water; she could remember the entirety of the last few minutes.

So why did it feel as though she were forgetting something incredibly important?

[+ElephantEarwax]

16 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

 Adren adressed her, asked, if she could take someone with her when she elsecalled and she moved a little, so that she could see both him and Karin. "Yes, I can. Why do you ask?"

 

Setting the helmet of beads on his leg, right arm taking the weight off his injured left, "When we figure out what do do with the Atium, If you are willing, you and another person could take it there, if it is a single place. But that should be a last resort. I believe the whole team should bring it out if possible." Looking down at the beads in his lap, Adren began idly counting them to himself.

[xinoehp512]

On 11/30/2019 at 10:23 AM, Ookla the Blue said:

Nekorb looked at the Well, lost for words. Just one bead?

"How many beads are down there?" he asked.

Quote

Are there any crystal openings above water?

Quote

To clarify, could Nekorb just pick up some atium from where he's standing? How easily could he just grab some?

 

[+Sorana]

6 hours ago, Ookla the Blue said:

To clarify, could Nekorb just pick up some atium from where he's standing? How easily could he just grab some?

Quote

You would have to climb the wall. None are within easy reach. It's diving or climbing.

Althea shrugged. "We could agree on destroying it right here and now." She placed the idea in the room again, although it had been flying around for a while. "That would also solve the problem." She looked up, at the crude stone wall with all the beads.

"Even if we distribute it now, we will run into this problem again and again. Everytime one of them produces a new bead, we are back at this discussion. Or we hand out mining rights, have a neutral party mine it and distribute it." It lead them to an endless cycle of discussions, of dooming war. Destroying this place. It would solve all of them. But it would also mean, that this treasure just disappeared. Althea's eyes rested with Adren, counting the beads and she suppressed a sigh, kept her face professional. To destroy it - it was an easy way. But usually the easiest way wasn't the wisest one.

"And I agree with you. The government isn't suited to deal with this."

[I think I am here.]

6 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

“And I agree with you. The government isn't suited to deal with this."

“We could destroy the crystals, right?” Wes asked.

“That could leave whatever atium’s here to remain, but would make sure no more gets produced?”

[xinoehp512]

7 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

You would have to climb the wall. None are within easy reach. It's diving or climbing.

Nekorb crouched by the edge of the pool. "Are they all down there?" he asked, hoping someone would answer.

[+Invocation]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Blue said:

Nekorb crouched by the edge of the pool. "Are they all down there?" he asked, hoping someone would answer.

Eos smirked. "All except one." She felt again at the ball of metal in her pocket. Atium. So that's what this is. 

Edited December 4, 2019 by Ookla the Quill

[Voidus]

Laurelai continued to frown with worry at Lita, she was about to correct her, assuring the woman that she'd definitely seen her step through the cascading liquid. But a glance at her hair showed that Lita was right, it wasn't wet in the slightest, not even a bead of moisture clinging to one of the strands. Laurelai's gaze flitted back to the falling water, where it hit the water below without causing any disturbance at all. Was it an illusion? Or did it just have different properties?

Again the urge to touch it rose up, she felt her hand momentarily rise as if about to test the falling liquid herself. But she stopped as she felt the sudden stab of attention hitting her, she saw Lita staring at her, almost seeming to glare before her expression regained its usual mask.

Laurelai let her hand drop back to her side, wiping her own expression clean as she did so and simply staring impassively back at her friend. She knew that Lita kept secrets still, she could hardly be herself and not. But she'd thought that they were past this now, this careful concealing of inner thoughts. The game of guessing and watching and evaluating. Hadn't they agreed to open up that night while the city tore itself to pieces around them?

"Quite a stir I imagine." She said aloud. "But finding an ancient lost metal from the gods will do that."

She felt her temples tighten, felt a headache coming on as tension continued to fill her. She wasn't exactly an active cave diver, but exploring the caverns themselves had at least been exciting, an interesting break from the work she'd previously been performing. But losing the trust of someone she considered a friend? She felt the worry begin to worm its way inside of her, feeding the voice that had been whispering within her mind.

[+ElephantEarwax]

Glancing up, "Destroying the crystals makes sense, but so does having a neutral party mine it. And of it is collected, any good that it could be used for will still be on the table." Adren looked around the group, noticing Althea glancing at him, not sure of the expression on her face. 

"Destroying it would allow the city continued peace." 

"Then we definately should keep this place around." Mercy yelped 

Thinking at the both of them, "I know Jeth, but a part of me can't forget the resource that's here."

 

[+ZincAboutIt]

It had only been a moment, just a flash, but Lita saw Laurelai's singular expression of wounded confusion, her brows drawn up and together, the corners of her mouth drawn slightly downward as if in pain.

Then, it was gone, smoothed over into Laurelai's usual cool, porcelain veneer. The look she reserved for others, for outsiders. Not for friends.

Her tone never changed, never wavered, maintaining her same dry, easy sarcasm as though nothing had changed. But suddenly, there was a chill that passed between them, and a distance that yawned its wide mouth out and out until there seemed to be a wide fissure running through the space between them. Lita could have reached out and snatched the pen from Laurelai's fingers, but the two might as well have been separated by a city block.

Lita kept herself still, quiet, not letting her face show the sudden panic that she felt watching the trust they had built up erode like silt before floodwater. The air in the grotto had grown cooler, it seemed, matching the cold glow of the water, blue-white and distant as starlight. Lita held her tongue pressed between her teeth, wanting to tell Laurelai how strange she felt, how it seemed as though a great time had passed, like she had woken from a vast and complex dream which had faded just to the edges of her consciousness. She could trust Laurelai with this.

Her eyes slid towards that gentle fall of water once more, pulled like metal before a Lurcher, and her words died in her throat. No, there was nothing to tell Laurelai, was there? And even if there were, how much could she really trust the woman? What did Laurelai know of her life these past months, holed up with her records and her reports, staining her fingers with ink while Lita stained her own in blood? 

Nothing, that voice hissed, all quiet venom and acid surety. Do you think she would understand you, accept you, if she knew what you had done? What you had enjoyed doing? If she knew how far beyond intimidating moss addicts and conducting barroom interviews you had gone to get what you wanted? Do you think she knows the bright ecstasy of Pewter turning your fingers into vices, or that sweet, black intimacy of staring into someone's eyes, Tin allowing you to catch the exact moment when they realize that no one is coming for them? When all the fight leaves them, and righteous fury turns all at once into deepest despair? 

Lita tightened her jaw, trying to force the thoughts away, feeling sick and angry and ravenous all at once, but the whispering continued. She is afraid, it crooned, afraid of this place, afraid of her own weakness. And if she knew even a fraction of what you had done, of what you are yet willing to do, she would fear you as well. And she would be right to do so.

Isolation and despair reached out for her then, threatening to wrench tears from her eyes, but Lita forced them back as she had done her whole life. So she was on her own - so what? Lita had been there before, and she could do it again. Sometimes you moved beyond the pace of your companions, your friends. That was the price of power - one of many. Lita should be familiar with paying prices by now.

She drew in a breath, then forced herself to grimace in a familiar, easy manner, giving a slightly-exaggerated shiver.

"This place makes my nerves itch," she said, giving Laurelai her best apologetic grin. "I didn't mean to snap at you - I guess the Atium news is shaking me up too. Maybe we should get out of here and try and parse through all these Alleycant transmissions before our pens burst into flames."

Lita smiled at Laurelai, and tried to ignore the howling, terrifying desire to throw herself under that cool, gentle stream of water and stand there forever.

[Fatebreaker]

"The key is similarities. The less you have to change, the more sustainable it will be."

The Stranger spoke to himself as he etched small grooves into the metal surface in front of him. They were part of a larger pattern of intricate symbols that spread across the gleaming spike.

"And don't forget the background plausibility factor, it needs to be seemless." He connected a hexagonal grid to the larger section, merging them into a cohesive whole. The end of his chisel glowed white hot, hissing and crackling with power as he worked the tip of it in calculated movements. His engraving was as precise as a machine and as beautiful as an artist's. And as he worked he channeled his massive stores of investiture into it, weaving cryptic arts and dark Sciences in the loom of his design.

The Stranger did not laugh or joke, but spoke softly as if to warn himself of danger. His face was focused and dark, and there was only a shallow grin about him. His work weighed heavy on him, yet he was the only one who could bear this burden. He stopped for a moment and looked at the spike before him, contemplating it's weight and it's Weight. Then he picked up his hammer, raising it over head for a mighty swing.

It never fell.

Something surged into the Stranger's mind, a torrent of power washing over his defences. He reeled, dropping the hammer to clutch at his head. This was agony. Nothing had been able to do this to him for a millennia. He staggered to regain control, but the force was so foreign and unexpected he was having trouble regaining his footing. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn't an eldritch abomination or some twisted deity.

It was a person. Someone channeling raw emotion and intellect into his mind, his soul. Amd what was worse, they could See him. Really SEE him. 

It was as if he had been laid bare before a microscope, dissected and displayed. Understood. It was terrifying.

He tried to push back against it, but as he forced his mind back in return, he recognized who had done this to him. It was Lita. The girl of the terrible hunger, the hunger so like his own. The woman who had seen the cost of power and found the resolve to pay it. The Eater of Secrets, Little Lita.

The mental onslaught from her was such a raw burst of mental force, that the Stranger couldn't understand what she was trying to communicate,  and he was fairly certain she couldn't either. Then just as abruptly it stopped, the connection ceasing to exist like the song of a hanged man.

The Stranger was left lying on the floor, staring at the nothing as he tried to wrap his mind around what had just happened. He found that he had no idea, and that terrified him. He eventually stood and reached into the pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a heavy gold coin. He extended his mind through the coin, searching for the signature pulse of the coin Lita held. And subconsciously, a whispered question: Why?

@ZincAboutIt

Edited December 7, 2019 by Fatebreaker

[+ZincAboutIt]

The hair on the back of Lita's neck stood on end one moment before she felt the odd, pulsing warmth spread out from the Coin in her left hand. For one flash of a moment, the process seemed familiar to her, known in a way she knew little else. Then, that sensation was gone, replaced by the very vivid and very unpleasant sensation of attention. Someone was thinking about her, reaching out for her through the Coin. Ice dripped down the back of her throat and into her belly, freezing her from the inside while simultaneously kindling within her a dark, intense curiosity. 

Someone was using the Coin. And it could only be one person.

Lita felt the world around her dim slightly, fade out a bit so that her concentration was bent entirely on the Coin in her hand. As if she'd have been able to focus on anything else. 

'Why?'

The question seemed at once terribly familiar and completely foreign, coming from within her mind but also from without. Something very vast and cool and old moved around the edges of her mind like a stalking beast, careful not to rip her apart with the fullness of its attention - not yet, at least. It was him, of course. The Stranger was speaking to her through the Coin.

But, she already knew that was possible...right? Lita blinked back another strange, half-remembered flicker of...something, then started to panic as she went back over the Stranger's question. 'Why?' Why what? Had she done something? Was he angry with her? She looked back at the water and the pool, feeling her heart beat faster.

By the Survivor, she thought, clutching the Coin harder. Did the Coin go through the water? Is this place causing some kind of interference?  Cold terror started flooding her now, and the image of the Stranger walking through the air six months ago to casually tear off one of Lord Ajax's arms played vividly behind her eyes in a sickly tableau. The feeling that she had missed something, that a great and vast event had taken place in the last few minutes returned, and she knew that there would be no lying this time. She had done something, or the water had, or this place had, and the Stranger would know it one way or another. The soft fervency of his singular 'Why?' scared her more than all the fury in the universe.

She looked down at her hand, then back to the water, then burned Pewter, allowing the balance and solidity and strength to flood her body. Then Lita took a deep breath and thought into the Coin, pushing the words out and down through her arm, through her hand, and onward.

Something happened to me, she sent, and a piece of her rending desire, an image of that glowing, gentle water, danced and shimmered unbidden alongside her words. 

@Fatebreaker

[I think I am here.]

On 05/12/2019 at 8:55 PM, ElephantEarwax said:

Glancing up, "Destroying the crystals makes sense, but so does having a neutral party mine it. And of it is collected, any good that it could be used for will still be on the table." Adren looked around the group, noticing Althea glancing at him, not sure of the expression on her face. 

"Destroying it would allow the city continued peace." 

"Then we definately should keep this place around." Mercy yelped 

Thinking at the both of them, "I know Jeth, but a part of me can't forget the resource that's here."

“Do neutral parties even exist?” Wes asked.

“Because, honestly,” he said, voice quietening.

“It sort of seems everyone here has an agenda. A side, you know? Maybe it’s just me,” looking around quickly he stayed where he was, near Adren and the Righthand. They were safe, he knew that. But everyone else, they seemed fine, but there was no denying there was a tension in the room. Or perhaps that was just paranoia. Wes just wished things could be simpler, that everyone would get along and wouldn’t split apart when new powerful things were discovered.

“A charity,” he suddenly said, looked to Adren and the Righthand for approval.

“We could give it to a charity, right? They help the city, probably could do a lot more good stuff with it than any guild, right?” He paled. “Sorry. Am I allowed to say that?” He knew about a few charities. One about helping war veterans. Some new one about homelessness. They could do with some atium, right?

@Ookla the Dreamer

@ElephantEarwax

[Voidus]

Laurelai smiled back at Lita, it wasn't frosty in the least, but guarded. A polite smile and nothing more, the kind that she had practised for endless hours until she could force it at a moments notice. But behind the cool, friendly smile her thoughts were cold and caluclating as she observed the tineye apologise and grin in a friendly manner. She knew Lita was no beginner to the game of lies, falseties and half-truths that people player. She could wear a false smile as easily as Laurelai could and was able to spot such a smile twice as easily.

Something had changed between them, but was it Laurelai's suspicions that had changed it? Or had this Chapel of Rain changed Lita in some way? Or perhaps worse yet, had Lita been like this the whole time? Showing an easygoing friendly facade but inwardly cautious and guarded of the stranger that Laurelai had become in their months apart? Almost by instinct Laurelai began to sort and file information, trying to arrive at the most logical motivations and chains of reasoning. The kind of work she performed by habit any time she needed to make a Forgery was useful for more than simply magically altering history, it was also one of the main reasons Laurelai did some work with the DoCI. She couldn't listen in on a conversation across a room or see in a darkened hallway, couldn't creep about unnoticed. But she knew people, could understand why they did what they did, if she had enough information.

So why had Lita asked her to come here? Why had Laurelai followed?

"I realise that finding an ancient and incredibly rare resource is important but you'd think they'd spread the messages out a bit more." Laurelai said, feigning a look towards her own pen. But her eyes didn't remain focused on it.

Why had Lita seemed so shocked as she stepped through the water? Why had she stared at Laurelai with such hostility?

"And I still haven't had any from Mac yet." Laurelai continued, looking up in thought. "I would have thought he'd be one of the ones coordinating this, but it's just been others from CounterIntelligence."

Why are you so afraid? The voice whispered, continuing her own trail of thoughts. Why are you still alive after you provoked the ire of Voidus? Why was he angry at you in the first place?

Laurelai felt something, a pull. It seemed to tug at her thoughts in a familiar manner but growing steadily more insistent in a way that should have distracted her from her thoughts, but didn't.

Why was she so nervous down here? Why did she feel like something was watching her from the dark? Why couldn't she pull herself together?

"He... must be busy" Laurelai said, voice trailing off into distraction. Unsure if Lita had even replied. She could barely see her surroundings anymore, she was too engrossed with the burning question.

Why? Why? Why? Why?

Only one place could she see clearly, only one thing that remained in focus as the world dimmed. The waters called. They pulled insistently at her the more she questioned, what had once been an irritating but easily resisted call was growing into a force that seemed to dominate her thoughts.

Why did she want to dive into the waters?

That last question burned at her, seared at her mind until it was the only one that remained. Perhaps the waters were harmful, but Lita had passed through them without issue hadn't she? And this place had been named a chapel, not a place of danger but of worship. There was nothing to fear, no reason to ignore the pull anymore.

Laurelai's eyes were dragged towards the gently falling waters, her burning focus in stark contrast to the placid and calm liquid. She felt her legs tense and before she could ask herself any further questions felt herself step into the waters of the Chapel of Rain.