Into the Dark

[+Invocation]

The Wanderer nearly dropped his Blade in shock. His Damnnation other half went and got him stuck somewhere with a weakling for long enough that the main group had been able to discover atium? One of the mythical metals, from the form and power of Ruin Himself? He had to get his hands on some. It was time to start planning how.

Luckily, that was what he was best at.

======================================

Okame stood, transfixed by the falling water and the undisturbed surface below. He became uncomfortably aware of his heartbeat, echoing in his ears, overpowering everything else. It pounded and pounded, pulsed and pulsed, echoed by the pulling, pounding, pulsing in his soul at the same sight. His eyes fluttered closed as Lita slipped and entered the water, unable to see the results, trying desperately to pull himself out of the lure. It felt...it felt like the Thrill. Like that day. His hand flexed out to the side in a muscle memory of the slaughter his Blade saw that day. The oceans of red. His mother.

He took a step closer, involuntarily. Something pulled at him. It told him he could see her again. He could know everything. He could reach the Fifth Ideal in an instant. He could do what he was born to do. He could lead the Skybreakers, usurp from Nalan and bring all of Roshar together under one uniformly enforced law code. His laws. His rule. 

He took another step.

This wasn't right. Something in him rebelled, screaming in horror. This was horribly, horribly wrong. The twin voices warred within him, and he slumped to his knees, hand pressed to his chest, eyes desperately clenched.

Everything was wrong.

But there was nothing he could do.

Quote

I have been trying to write this for so long. Okame just wouldn't cooperate. ;-;

 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Ookla the Quill

[+Sorana]

On 7.12.2019 at 11:53 AM, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“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

The Underling was right. They all had an agenda. Everybody here, including herself. "I'm not sure if a real neutral party exists." She told him quietly, but still inclined her head in agreement.

"There are still buildings, that were severly damaged during the last invasion." She followed his trail of thought. "If we create a council of some sorts, dedicated to use the atium for the repairs, all of us would be in control, all of us would know what happens with it."

And yet, nobody could decline that there was the huge chance that it would be sold the guilds and in the end, it would still end up somewhere. But at least, maybe it had at least done something good before upsetting every balance they had. They were at a standstill - Karin had expressed openly that she wouldn't make any decisions for the DA, TUBA wasn't here - at least not officially, that left her. And if she decided for them all - she couldn't. But as long as nothing fundamentally changed the situation - they would remain like this. In the end, the only sure thing was to destroy it all.

[AonEne]

Quote

Okay I’m not going to get into details of what happened before Myriad died, because it was very gruesome and she won’t be the only one traumatized if I write it. She possessed one of Invo’s NPC cave people, then when the group came by she Bolted to an NPC who peeked down the other passageway, where she was hiding out. Or something like that. 

Myriad stayed quietly in the back of the group, having picked up her bag (strangely, with the Soulcaster missing - they must have taken it) from under the covering that had been placed on top of her previous body. She felt bad for the woman, but worse for herself - the sight and sensation of your organs not being where they were supposed to be wasn’t one she ever wanted to see again. The exact opposite of a painless way to die. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw it again. 

So she kept her eyes open in this new body, which was male and not burdened by a lack of sleep. It wasn’t hard when there was so much to focus on; they’d come across a metal that was apparently valuable. She quietly scribed the findings to the rest of the guild through her spanreed notebook, taking in the conversation from the background as it happened and relaying it. She noticed a few other people doing the same or using phones, no doubt communicating with their own guilds. 

@Rushu42 

Edited December 9, 2019 by Ookla the Roleplayer
HFs bufovbfeuovbeufohh

[+ElephantEarwax]

15 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

The Underling was right. They all had an agenda. Everybody here, including herself. "I'm not sure if a real neutral party exists." She told him quietly, but still inclined her head in agreement.

"There are still buildings, that were severly damaged during the last invasion." She followed his trail of thought. "If we create a council of some sorts, dedicated to use the atium for the repairs, all of us would be in control, all of us would know what happens with it."

And yet, nobody could decline that there was the huge chance that it would be sold the guilds and in the end, it would still end up somewhere. But at least, maybe it had at least done something good before upsetting every balance they had. They were at a standstill - Karin had expressed openly that she wouldn't make any decisions for the DA, TUBA wasn't here - at least not officially, that left her. And if she decided for them all - she couldn't. But as long as nothing fundamentally changed the situation - they would remain like this. In the end, the only sure thing was to destroy it all.

Clenching his fist repeatedly, working through the burning in his arm. Adren looks up at Wes and Althea. "That is a good plan,to rebuild the city would be a way to use the atium well. But are there any true charities around?" 

The area that had been emptied of atium was dwarfed by the size of the cavern and The Well. There is so much atium hidden in these walls. A treasure that could buy a guild. And it needed to not be used to do that. 

"Are we not going to keep it?"

"Probably not most if any. It will cause problems as is."

[+Invocation]

Eos stood, one ear cocked and listening to the various conversations. So this atium stuff was valuable, huh? Sounded like she needed to get more of it. One bead is nice, but where one bead is a small fortune, more beads make for a larger fortune.

And more was always better. The moment Corette came up, she was going in. Or she could just steal from whatever stockpile they would inevitably have laying around. She'd figure it out as she went, but she was definitely getting her hands on some more of that metal.

[Fatebreaker]

It was silent as the Stranger stood in the lab that lay beyond. He waited, Coin in hand, gazing at nothing and many things. Then a voice, small and afraid spoke to him

Something happened to me

Then impressions, feelings, sound. Like the torrent before, but a mere fraction of it. There was confusion, fear, worry, but beneath it all was the Hunger. The kind of Hunger that had tasted and known that for which it yearned. The most dangerous kind of Hunger.

The Stranger considered this as he sifted through the impressions and emotions Lita had projected. Subterranean, dark, water, and something Lita herself didn't understand. It was all so jumbled, as if she was pulling fragments of consciousness out of the recesses of her mind. None of it made any sense, it was like the words of a babbling child who had seen something they didn't understand. But Lita had a razor sharp mind, and her articulation in the face of danger was remarkable. She had spoken to The Stranger face to face and not wavered, even as he drove a hemalurgic spike into her. And yet whatever had just happened had shattered her composure so completely. Not only that, but it had somehow enabled her to slip past his mental defenses with a surge of raw emotion.

The Stranger was silent for a long moment, looking at the unfinished work before him. There was so much work to do, a world of details to see to. But this was something unknown, something that had not only eluded him, but caught him entirely off guard. He needed to see to this.

...

The shadows in the carven did not warp and twist, the air did not whisper with silent voices. The Stranger was just suddenly there, without fanfare or spectacle. He stood a little ways off, taking in the scene before him. There was Lita, standing before falling water, speaking to someone in a strangely guarded voice. The Stranger was surprised to see that her companion was Laurelai, though after a moment of reflection he concluded that he had seen them together more often than not. However, this only created more questions: Was she involved in the strange events of late? Did Voidus know she was here? Did he know about any of this?

But his questions fell to the back of his mind as he gazed upon the water falling before him. He felt the pull of it immediately, and his own Hunger responded. And that worried him.

He stepped forward towards the others and spoke softly,

"What is this place?"

Yet before he could finish the sentence, Laurelai had turned and stepped into the pool. And the Stranger watched, unable or unwilling to stop her, he wasn't sure which...

@Voidus @ZincAboutIt

Edited December 12, 2019 by Fatebreaker

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita was caught up in her own thoughts when Laurelai stepped beneath the gentle fall of water, but the woman's motion quickly jerked her out of her reverie. There was a brief and terrible flash of rage that tore through her then, a jealousy beyond her own comprehension, and Lita stepped forward, her hand already outstretched to shove Laurelai out from under the water and take her place.

A sound off to her right, and Lita thought she heard someone else step towards them. Okame, perhaps? The possibility of the Radiant joining them was enough to shake Lita's momentary fury, moving her mind closer to cool, rational thought. Then, the voice.

"What is this place?"

It was soft, in the way that snow is soft. Soft and cold and dangerous. Lita felt her head snap around, all her attention now drawn towards the other end of the grotto, and the man standing there. The Stranger looked much the same as he had six months ago, wild as the sea in storm and fathoms deeper. His face was intense, fixed upon the water as it glowed and poured down on Laurelai's head, her form still as a picture. An image flashed before Lita's eyes - the Stranger, wreathed in a shower of sparks. Sparks in the darkness. Then, it was gone. She blinked once, her hand going instinctively to the spike in her side as she met the Stranger's mismatched eyes. The spike gleamed silver-white in the glow of the water, though none of that light reflected off his right eye. Lita let herself get drawn into the well of darkness for a moment before pulling herself away.

Think, Lita, some rational portion of her mind urged. Think. She forced herself to take a breath and nudged her Tin higher, observing the Stranger's gaze as he took in the water. It was a familiar sight, one that she recognized in herself. Hungry fascination. Yearning. Need.

"I found it," she whispered, her voice carrying through the too-still air. "I caught the glow from a hundred meters up, and we came down a chasm rent in the tunnel floor. White light dancing on the stones, like starlight, and the smell of water. Cool, damp I followed it here, and the others followed me. I found it."

She regarded the Stranger warily, then looked down at the Coin she still held in her hand. Lita swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. "I - I think I stepped in. For a moment. I remember, and I... don't remember. I'm not wet, but, I should be wet. Time, things, it was all..." Lita scrunched up her face in frustration - she wasn't making any sense at all. She grit her teeth, then looked back to the Stranger.

"It's called The Chapel of Rain," Lita told him, pointing to the arch of stone leading into the grotto, where the Old Terris was carved. "I..."

She cut off, still watching him watch the water fall gentle and luminous and seductive. Before she could think, her mouth was moving again, the words spoken soft as a breeze; she knew he would hear them. A slow, creeping smile moved of her mouth, mirthless and fascinated.

"Can you feel it?" She breathed. "It whispers... it promises." Lita stepped back towards the water, her boot crunching softly on the powdery gravel floor. "Promises... everything."

Edited December 12, 2019 by ZincAboutIt

[Fatebreaker]

The Stranger heard Lita's words creep through the cavern, saw her gaze transfixed upon the falling water, felt her footstep crunch upon the gravel. This was an old place, one that he had no memory of. And it's power was great. Even as he stood there, he could feel his hunger pulling him towards it, even as Lita moved to immerse herself. The Hunger resounded in this place, cool and implacable. It was no wonder the two denizens had partaken.

But the Stranger had mastered his Hunger long ago. Or so he told himself. In this place, even he had to wonder.

"Lita, Halt."

His voice was harder than an anvil, and his gaze was as cool as a hangman's, never leaving Laurelai. 

"Get behind me."

The Stranger did not beg or order, his words seemed to be describing truths yet unrealized. He knew the danger they were in. He was aware of Laurelai's unique ability, and he had no idea how it was going to interact with this Chapel of Rain. Lita had been able to surprise him, and she lacked the chaotic innate investiture.

The Stranger continued to speak in a calm, hard voice,

"Tether your Hunger by your will, or you shall be shackled to its whims."

He knew a thing of two about that...

@ZincAboutIt @Voidus

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita’s vision had narrowed to a blue-white tunnel, and she stepped towards the water like a woman dying of thirst. She would make quick work of Laurelai - it would be easy with the woman so still, so enamoured, so —“

”Lita, Halt.”

The Stranger’s words struck her like a bell, the deep certainty of his tone cutting through the dense fog of desire that had flooded her mind. It was a narrow slice of lucidity, but whatever was left of Lita's resolve clung to that corridor, that voice like a black knife in a sea of cruel blue-white. 

He spoke again, and Lita did as he bade her, her body moving in a stupid, slow torpor, unwilling to obey. But she forced it to obey, forcing the bit and bridle of her will into the gnashing teeth of her ravenous want. Lita slipped behind The Stranger and watched Laurelai with something close to a clear mind, the rational portion taking the reins and cataloguing what, exactly, had happened. She set her jaw against the desire to dash across the floor and into the pool, nails making red crescents in her palms as she clenched her fists. Lita would not be shackled to anything, not even this. Not even that beautiful water, so beautiful, such power...

Lita forced her eyes away and down, and something like a low whine pressed its way out of her mouth at the effort. She blushed at the noise, so base and inhuman. An animal sound, some sick mixture of lust and greed and frustration. The humiliation led to anger, and that seemed to finally clear her mind. 

She gave her head a little shake and cast wide, frightened eyes up at the Stranger, careful not to look at the water.

”What’s happening to me? To us?” Her voice was hoarse, but it was her own - keen and clever and ready to act. Her own voice, her own will. She took a deep breath and readied her Tin and Pewter. 

@Fatebreaker @Voidus

Edited December 12, 2019 by ZincAboutIt
Tags

[I think I am here.]

“I know a couple of charities,” Wes said, responding to Adren and looking from him to Althea.

“So we don’t have to create a council. Well, we can, if the charities aren’t ready for so much money. But still, imagine just anonymously giving it to them.” He bit his lip when he realised what he was saying. “All that money will definitely kill the economy though. So... we just give it away? For research and not spending?”

The Kalea moved around and he looked down at it fondly.

———x

Max stepped over a rock as he looked to the rest of the cave. There were some things alive here, he knew that. Blood stains from the previous cave had told him that. He had just begun entering the system after getting the message, had lowered himself down and was now sauntering through the narrow paths. He’d encountered a small pool of water, had advanced. He knew found himself facing a beautiful colourful cave.

Althea, you saw this cave too? He asked and sent her an image, of the fluorescent mushrooms and algae around the walls. It was so soothing, and Max began to feel a little bit exhausted from his travel here. It’s... really nice...

[Voidus]

Laurelai's foot sank into the water with purpose, the force of her stride immediately dissipated as she felt the warm water lapping around her lower leg, a sudden sense of calm overcoming her now that she was moving along with the whispering calls from the water. One more step carried her under the falling stream of liquid, allowed it to roll gently off of her as she bathed in the comfortable sensation.

She could feel every encroaching moment, every shift of her body as she moved to stand beneath the falling water. Motion slowed around her, only the water somehow seeming like it was still in motion, still calling to her. Promising to give her what she wanted, what she needed.

Answers.

She saw in slow motion as the Stranger turned towards Lita, holding out a hand. Felt as though she understood how a Steelrunner must see the world as everything moved through a thick molasses. But it was not just that the world was slowing down, it was that she understood. Understood what the Stranger was doing, what he was about to say even though his lips had barely begun to form words. Understood how he had arrived here and why. Felt that if she were so inclined she might be understand the Stranger himself, come to know him more intimately than anyone she'd ever studied for her practice with Forgery.

Possibilities expanded before her, an endless web of information, any strand of which she could follow and find an answer to a question that had plagued her all her life. Her powers, her fears, her life. She could discover the answer to any question she could think of here. All she had to do was wait beneath the waters, allow them to give her the knowledge that she needed. The knowledge that she deserved.

In an instant she found a strand and began following it, she cast her mind back to that day when the city had erupted into chaos. The day she'd gotten drunk in a bar with Lita. But earlier in that day she had not been expecting her day to end well. Indeed she had not been expecting to see the end of the day at all when she felt that terrifying ominous presence rise up and threaten to steal all light from  the world.

The day that she had invoked the ire of the leader of the Dark Alleys.

She saw the day in her mind, saw what she had not seen at the time. The look that she had mistaken for irritation had been a protective instinct. The anger had not been directed at her but at others around her. Voidus had not been about to destroy her or harm her, she understood that he never would. And understood that it was because she was his daughter.

Her mind reeled at the revelation, losing the thread entirely as she attempted to process the information. Understand what it meant. how could it have happened?

She heard Lita and the Stranger's voices faintly, heard their agonizingly slow conversation. But she was too distracted to even attempt to pull the knowledge that she needed from the water, she felt the disturbance of her mind bring forth a cascade of information as the waters attempted to give her what she sought, but the information was fragmented and chaotic, a reflection of her own mind as she sought to understand.

[xinoehp512]

Quote

Wait, is the water magic?

 

[+ZincAboutIt]

7 minutes ago, Ookla the Blue said:

 

Quote

Yes, definitely.  

 

[Fatebreaker]

Quote

Yes, quite magic.

 

[+ZincAboutIt]

Quote

For the curious, here is what this thing is, and how it works:

The Chapel of Rain

Spoiler

A small waterfall pouring directly out of a narrow, high cavern ceiling into a pool of water. Shape is roughly the size of a “rain simulated” showerhead. Water falls from the ceiling into the pool constantly at a rate that never slows or speeds up. When the “rain” hits the pool, it does not create any ripples or splashes, there is only the light sound of water falling out of the ceiling. This pool is large enough for one person to step inside, under the fall of the water. The “chapel” is about the size of a walk-in shower, enclosed on all sides but the front entry into the cavern niche. When someone enters the stream of rain and it falls on their head, they receive perfect clarity regarding whatever it is they most desperately crave to know. As soon as someone steps out of the stream of water, however, all recollection of this knowledge is lost, aside from a slight unease, vague memory, and a compulsion to re-enter the water as soon as possible. This compulsion increases with the amount of time spent under the stream of water. When people emerge from the water, they are fully dry, despite feeling “wet” and exhibiting signs of becoming very wet while under the stream of water.

The water in the pool cannot be gathered into any vessel, not even in the mouth while under the stream of water. It’s properties of clarity do not work unless a person’s head is beneath the water. If someone places merely a hand under the stream, the water will feel a pleasant temperature (whatever each person sees as pleasant) and the person will feel an urge to step fully under the water. While the water itself is not dangerous in composition or poisonous in any way, the compulsion and addictive properties of the water often cause extreme physical neglect, with the person wishing to spend all of their time in the water. Ironically, dehydration often causes death, as the water from the Chapel cannot be drunk. If more than one person is affected by the water at one time, they may also compete with one another for time under the water. Violence is not uncommon. Knowledge can be stored in a coppermind but decays almost immediately once out of the water. Multiple attempts must be made to retain even part of the memory, and by that time addiction has fully set in. Copper compounding allows you to retain your knowledge with no memory decay, but addiction sets in even faster due to you knowing exactly what the Chapel gives you.

 

 

[+Sorana]

17 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“So we don’t have to create a council. Well, we can, if the charities aren’t ready for so much money. But still, imagine just anonymously giving it to them.” He bit his lip when he realised what he was saying. “All that money will definitely kill the economy though. So... we just give it away? For research and not spending?”

Althea looked over at Adren. "If there really is a fitting charity -"

She was about to say something else when Max reached out for her and his words made her look over her shoulder, as if she could see him, fear crossing her face.

RUN.

She replied, without turning back to Adren or Wes, focused on the direction they had come from. She took hold of their bond, concentrated on the way it felt under her fingers. He was still there. She used the first memory that came to her mind, fear, panic rolling over her when she had been rioted earlier, and without hesitation she flug it along the bond. It made her body tense, when it reacted to the fear and she grit her teeth against the emotion, focused on Max. On the other side is a chasm, a ridge. Don't fall. There should be a rope there. Get away from the mushrooms.

Frantically she wondered what else she could do that didn't involve leaving the cave, and simply bring him here. The Underling. If she left him alone, Althea forced herself to relax again, turn back to Adren an Wes. Tell me once you've cleared the room. I can guide you through the others.

Hopefully it would work like that. She focused on the situation at hand again. A charity. It might work, but in the end, it was the same situation with the DA taking it. If Karin feared that the DA might not be able to keep it safe, how could a charity. "I am not sure, if this might work." She tried to finish her sentence, glossing over her momentarily distraction, her face back to it's normal, polite expression. "It will be hard to get overall support for this party, and without that support someone will start stealing it."

Althea looked around, her eyes resting on the holes in the wall. It came down to one single decision. Was she willing to sacrifice all of this? All this power, the money, to ensure the peace they had at the moment. There was no way to judge the longterm consequences. Maybe the DA was the best place to pile all of it. If she suggested it to the right persons, they might just be greedy enough to accept. They rarely declined a chance to study something and atium was rare enough that it would be tempting, really tempting. Atium spikes were fascinating, another fact that would make it even more tempting. It wouldn't take much convincing them to take it, and if it vanished in the Alleys, then it was gone. They wouldn't sell, which would solve the problem with the economy. And with Max coming, they could stop this cave from producing more.

@ElephantEarwax

Edited December 13, 2019 by Ookla the Dreamer

[+ElephantEarwax]

On 12/12/2019 at 11:27 PM, Ookla the Dreamer said:

Althea looked over at Adren. "If there really is a fitting charity -"

"I am not informed on the politics of the city enough to make that call. But the amount of Atium is so large, do we risk any charity or charities becoming as powerful as the great guilds?"

Shifting his gaze around thee room and still flexing his hand. This could cause the collapse of the city's politics again. Was that worth the risk. Leaving was possible, but avoiding everything was not longer a good option. It was time to stay and work.  

[I think I am here.]

On 13/12/2019 at 2:27 PM, Ookla the Dreamer said:

RUN

Max jolted up at the sudden command, looked around although there was nothing to look at. Nothing but the gently glowing mushrooms. Max had already begun to clear a place out that he could rest on later. With all this travelling he deserved a rest. Looking back to the mushrooms Max felt something else pass over the bond, a sharp sense of panic rolling over him and he jolted out of his drowsiness for a moment. Some more moments came from Althea as Max moved forward, realising what was happening. Were the mushrooms making him sleepy? But why?

Feeling his eyelids beginning to close Max forced himself to move forward, let himself he distracted by Althea’s voice.

On the other side is a chasm, a ridge. Don't fall. There should be a rope there.

Get away from the mushrooms.

Looking ahead Max could see the chasm, long and winding. It was easy to see why someone so tired could fall down accidentally, but Max was prepared. Dragging his eyes away from the mushrooms he felt around in the dark, until he could feel a long rope extending to the bottom. So, he was on the right track, that was good.

As Max slid down the rope gently to the watery bottom he could feel the effects of the mushrooms wear off, his usual alertness returning, albeit with a slight fatigue from his journey. A part of him was annoyed at his shoes getting wet, but he had prepared his clothes to go in caves, so it wasn’t like it was anything too important anyway.

Thanks, he said. I’m at the bottom of the chasm. Where do I go from here?

—- 

“Yeah, you’re right,”

Wes said and looked down, another idea gone. But, it was okay. He was sure the high-ups would think of something. They always thought of something good for the people, there was always a solution. Even if kids like Wes weren’t really smart enough to see or understand it. Frowning, he looked at the Righthand as she sharply looked over her shoulder, paused, then resumed her conversation.

“Is something wrong?” Wes asked, looked to where she looked. “Is a monster coming?”

[+Sorana]

21 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

Thanks, he said. I’m at the bottom of the chasm. Where do I go from here?

Follow the chasm until you reach another cave. There are creatures there that imitate voices, but we weren't attacked by anything. You should be able to cross that cave and reach a forst, partially standing in a lake. Move past the lake, don't deter from the way and then you reach the cave we are at.

Althea replied, made sure she sent him the corresponding pictures along with her description. It hadn't been far, they had spend a lot of time discussion the mural and the animals and the mushrooms. Without that she doubted that their journey would have taken them a whole day.

"No, no monster is coming." She turned to Wes. "Don't worry about that." Her eyes moved around the cave again, and she wished that they had never found it. Adren was right, and she had to admit she was running out of ideas. Apart from handing it to the DA and hoping they would simply go on with letting the other inhabitants of the city live their lives. "I agree. This much wealth could easily be the base for another great guild."

She shifted her weight to her right leg, unsure what to do now. "But that doesn't lead us anywhere." The fact sounded dry and hard in the air around them, while she looked at Adren. "Do you have any other idea that doesn't neccessarily leads to the city collapsing in one way or the other?"

@ElephantEarwax

[I think I am here.]

Follow the chasm until you reach another cave. There are creatures there that imitate voices, but we weren't attacked by anything. You should be able to cross that cave and reach a forst, partially standing in a lake. Move past the lake, don't deter from the way and then you reach the cave we are at.

Max nodded at the words, forgetting she couldn’t see. Calmly he stepped out of the water, begun advancing through the caves. Occasionally he could see some small animal scurrying around in dark corners in the edge of his vision, but he continued to walk forward. They were harmless to him. When he approached a cavern that seemed to be similar to a crystal forest he remembered Althea’s words, walked quietly past some bats and approached a wall. A wall with a drawing on it.

It was a drawing of a single figure. Tall, regal, a streak of colour depicted some kind of robe. In the figure’s hand it held some sort of sword, and it was standing tall. There was something off, though. The figure’s head was broken, a large crack running down it. And there was something coming out of the head. Waves? Some sort of Investiture?

Scratching his head Max remembered when Althea had shown him the cave pictures, brought the memory up in his head. It was the same wall. This wall. Stepping back Max looked at the cave drawing again. It had somehow changed to show Max, to show Max as standing tall, maybe even older than he was now? With a cracked head. And showing him Rioting.

Quickly he sent it to Althea. Found the weird wall, he said.

[+Sorana]

2 hours ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

Quickly he sent it to Althea. Found the weird wall, he said.

Actually it's a spren. She replied and studied the picture he sent her. But don't tell the others, I kept that to myself so far. Max was broken as he stood there, a huge crack running through his figure, and he was obviously rioting. Broken. She remembered her own picture, with the ton of little cracks instead of the huge one. We are all broken messes. Max words and again she found it to be true. True in a way that nearly hurt. She wished that one day, they would heal, they would take small steps and start filling these cracks up. One after the other, until they were good again.

The forest is next. She informed him, sent a comforting feeling along with the thought, hoped that the picture didn't unsettle him. We reached a stalemate. Nobody is willing to make a decision, so we are standing around, eyeing each other and doing nothing.

[+ZincAboutIt]

Corette had walked as much of the atium cavern as she could, drawing out the rough layout in a small notebook and jotting down what the others were saying. In between notes, she sent short transmissions in Alleycant back to Matthieu and to the others who would be coming down soon. The twirls of her pen would appear random to anyone else, only bits of shorthand, code words, or a very clipped sentence made its way back to the Alleys. The situation here was as she'd suspected - everyone too nervous and unsure to do anything decisive. 

That was good. It gave her people more time to prepare. She gave cool glances towards Adren and Karin, unsure what to think of them. Karin was DA but she hardly seemed interested in this discovery.

Not her department, likely. Researchers, so single-minded at times.

Adren was another story. Corette had expected him to do something with that hatchet of his besides hit rocks and gaze at it with melancholy eyes, debating ethics and 'right' and 'wrong' with the Elsecaller. Was it an act? Corette cocked her head slightly, making another note, and then walked back to the group. She'd slipped back into her coveralls after drying off, and the warmth was lovely after her dip in the freezing pool below.

"The Dark Alley is likely the best bet in terms of safe storage of this material," she said quietly, careful not to appear eager in the slightest, only as though she were weighing all their options. "Flooding the city with this metal could cause untold havoc. But perhaps allowing the people here to come away with a small fortune would not be too harmful. Say, twenty beads each? There's few enough of us, and then when we've portioned it out, Karin and Adren call their people and they secure this place away. Out of reach."

@Ookla the Dreamer @ElephantEarwax @Ookla the Foxed

[kenod]

Karin shrugged. "Sounds good to me," she said. "At least we'd be doing something." For a second she thought about saying that she didn't need the Atium, since the DA paid her enough, but then she reconsidered. After all, it was a lot of money, and there was a fair amount of lab equipment she could buy with that. She thought about that for a second. No longer needing to wait for others to be finished first, or having to wait for months before Finance finally processes her requests for a personal piece of equipment, often even getting back messages that the labs already have enough of those. She just caught herself as she almost started smiling, dreaming about what she could buy first. One of those specialized microscopes maybe, or one of those sequencers the senior researchers used for examining genetic material that didn't consist of DNA. All the possibilities...

[I think I am here.]

21 hours ago, Ookla the Dreamer said:

The forest is next. She informed him, sent a comforting feeling along with the thought, hoped that the picture didn't unsettle him. We reached a stalemate. Nobody is willing to make a decision, so we are standing around, eyeing each other and doing nothing.

I’ll be there soon. Together we can organise some stuff to happen. I have a couple ideas, Max said, kept his gaze still on the wall.

“A spren,” he repeated, summoned Sethramir as a sword in his hand. “Hey Seth, you think you can speak to it?”

I’m Awakened, not a spren, came the reply. I can only speak to you, and the other worthy ones. Not this wall.

That was unfortunate. Max wanted to know how the spren in the wall did its thing, knew he was coming and made this illustration, made the illustration with Althea and the little figures. Answers in a time like this was what he needed. Though, he guessed, that would ruin the wonder of the whole thing. Maybe it was better not knowing, accepting the phenomenon for what it was, without trying to debunk it.

He shrugged, turned and began walking further down the cave, until he was met with trees and a forest-like structure. In a cave, of all things. He could see glowing moss and hot springs as he passed by the scenery, wondered about animals in this cave. He had seen some scurrying about, had seen something fly in the corner of his eye. He hadn’t spoken much in his walk, which explained why he hadn’t encountered the voice-mimicers yet.

The voice-mimic animals could be useful, you know, he said. As an offensive strategy, if we weaponised them. Not like we should. Not everything that can be turned into a weapon should. But... this cave may have a lot of extra resources that are going unnoticed over the atium. Like these moss... could be an energy-efficient lighting source.

[+Sorana]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

The voice-mimic animals could be useful, you know, he said. As an offensive strategy, if we weaponised them. Not like we should. Not everything that can be turned into a weapon should. But... this cave may have a lot of extra resources that are going unnoticed over the atium. Like these moss... could be an energy-efficient lighting source.

Maybe, I leave all this weapon stuff to you. But you could pack some of the moss, enough so that we are able to reproduce it, and some of the glowing mushrooms as well. Given then current development, I am not sure if we have another chance later. Althea replied after a while, her eyes never leaving Corette. Fascinating to see how quickly the woman went from distributing the atium and giving ACE a part as well, to supporting her inital idea. This complete change of mind had happened a little too quick, especially as her new proposition definitly didn't include ACE at all. They were only a few, if you didn't count the bunch of people Stancel had brought along. Corette's voice was calm, too calm. The woman hadn't bothered to hide her emotions so far and to speak calmly about the DA, especially as someone unaffiliated - possible, but unlikely. It was more likely that she had support from an organization in one way or the other. Add to that Karin's different reply to the same idea she had voiced earlier - Althea hid a smile, when she labeled Corette as potential spy and informed Max of the changed situation.

The idea is it to hand it to the DA. Then it's out of the way. She heard the relief in her voice, but made sure it didn't show on her face.

"As this was my initial proposition, I am naturally not opposed to it at all. Although I would like to talk about having access to the other caves on our way here." She replied loudly to Corette and gestured towards the beads in her helmet. "If Adren agrees, we could see how many we've got here and split them up."

 

Edited December 18, 2019 by Ookla the Dreamer