Into the Dark

[+ElephantEarwax]

"The DA is the only place I can think of that it would not upset the balance besides destroying it. And even to do that I believe we would need Voidus."

Adren ran his right fingers over the bandages on his arm as he spoke, causing his hand to curl at the small spikes of pain.

"I would also like to get some more samples on the way out of the caves. Maybe take a bath in that hot spring."

Looking down at the beads in AIthea's helmet, and smiling slightly, "I suppose we should get counting then, "

 

"Why do you keep touching your bandages, doesn't it hurt?

"I always do it with scars. it makes them go numb."

"But doesn't it hurt?"

"Not anymore"

@Ookla the Dreamer @ZincAboutIt

Edited December 19, 2019 by ElephantEarwax

[I think I am here.]

22 hours ago, Sorana said:

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.

That’s certainly one way to deal with the issue, Max said, continued making his way past crystals and glowing moss in this cave-forest. Though, it certainly is one of the ones which have no discernible good impact. Sure, it has no negative impact, but it also doesn’t benefit anyone other than the DA.

Approaching the end of the cave he walked forward, made his way around some corners and slowed down when he heard the fading, distant sounds of people speaking. A grin crept up his face when he walked further ahead, further towards the current light in front of him.

I think I’ve got a better idea. Look behind you.

From the entrance of the cavern Max appeared, flashed a smile to Althea. He tried not to make a big scene when appearing, though notably he was one of the few not wearing one of those uniforms. But still, he walked up to Althea, examined the people in the room.

[+Sorana]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

From the entrance of the cavern Max appeared, flashed a smile to Althea. He tried not to make a big scene when appearing, though notably he was one of the few not wearing one of those uniforms. But still, he walked up to Althea, examined the people in the room.

Althea followed his words and looked behind her, to see him entering the cave. He looked great as he strode towards them, took a look around and obviously examined the people in the room. She didn't doubt that the others would notice him nearly immediatly, and made a small gesture with her hand, indicated the atium in the walls.

Hello, Max.

She greeted him and sent him a warm feeling along with her words, before she focused on the situation again. I know that it only benefits the DA. But I have to admit, I am glad if we can stop it from ruining our economy or causing another civil war. Still she couldn't neglect that she was curious what he had come up with. another idea was always welcome, although she wasn't sure if they could really influence what was going on here. There are at least least two members of the DA here. I suspect that there are more close by. Judging their change in expressions, they already contacted their superiors as well.

Her warning echoed in her head while she watched Adren draw his fingers along his bandage, his hand twisting in pain. The sight hurt, touched a memory of herself burried somewhere deep in the folds of her brain and she reached into her pocket, wordlessly offered him some painkillers. She didn't smile at him, but her face softened just a tiny bit. "I agree on the sample part. The species in this cave are fascinating." her head nodded towards the beads on the ground. "You are right, we should." She agreed, but didn't kneel down again to start counting yet. Instead she wanted to give Max a chance to voice his idea first.

@ElephantEarwax

[+ZincAboutIt]

Corette noticed the man moments before he appeared, a new Investiture signature thumping softly against her Bronze senses. It was a soft, quiet kind of rhythm, the kind that seemed more likely to be an object than a person. It reminded Corette of the small rhythms that hovered around Adren and his two Awakened artifacts. The slight tinkle of breaking crystal echoed through the cavern and she cursed softly, turning off her Bronze again. Stupid, she chided herself. Stupid.

She stepped back a bit, getting her balance under her and moving her right hand to her thigh, ready to reach down through the slit in her coveralls and slip out her long dagger if needed. Corette gave the newcomer a small smile, noting how unaffected Althea seemed at his sudden arrival. Did she know him? Another Ghostblood agent perhaps? He wasn't wearing coveralls, nor did he have a headlamp or harness rig like the rest of them. Which meant he wasn't with ACE.

More trouble, she thought, not taking her eyes from the man.

"Sightseeing?" she called. "Or are you here for something else?"

@Ookla the Maybe-Existent

[Voidus]

Whisper walked slowly around the caverns, running her hand against the wall and looking up with wonder. Atium, a whole cavern of it, and the others were talking about selling it? About burning it? It would be a terrible waste, a waste of a treasure of the sort found only once before across all the worlds the Alleyverse connected to. Some sought to simply bury the cavern, but that would probably simply require further excavational efforts to uncover it again. Atium was valuable enough to risk any attempt to retrieve this much of it.

She trailed around the edges of the walls, her hand maintaining constant contact as she squeezed herself out of the way of others that she passed, also looking about with wonder and interest. The main group from ACE would be arriving soon, and Whisper had already seen another straggler catch up before moving in a beeline for Althea. So the Ghostbloods had been called in already, the DA would probably send someone soon as well, they had only a limited time before the guilds arrived in force.

After circling the cavern Whisper made her way back to the centre where others were discussing their plans for what to do with the Atium, there seemed to have been some decision to let the DA handle it, which would certainly work to her advantage, but just in case...

The screams started softly, just a faint rustle with no wind to follow it. A few turned curiously towards the noise emanating from the cavern wall, but as the screams built in intensity they attracted more and more eyes. An unearthly wail emanating from the surrounding stone, a horrifying screech of anger and fury, wordless but conveying more than enough emotion to get its message across.

Whisper copied those around her, looking first with curiosity, then concern towards the walls as one after another they each emitted a horrible cacophony of noise. It had taken nearly all of the Stormlight that she'd had left, with just enough to maintain her appearance with perhaps one or two minor alterations. But it seemed to have caught the attention of the other scouts as she'd intended. With Atium around to stop people from using Allomancy even Corette might be unable to tell, though she would likely be able to guess.

[xinoehp512]

Quote

*sigh* I feel like I've been saying this a lot. Nevertheless; my character has been left behind. Again. No one ever really responded to him, so...  Yeah. I'm lost. Again.

 

[AonEne]

On 12/4/2019 at 8:06 AM, xinoehp512 said:

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

 

On 12/4/2019 at 9:46 AM, Invocation said:

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

Quote

That’s the last thing Nekorb did, immediately followed by Eos answering him. And the discussion everyone else has been having isn’t exactly exclusive, anyone can say something. They’re still all in the same place. Hope that helps. 

 

[xinoehp512]

Nekorb stepped back from the pool. "I think we should split it up among ourselves- or, at least, some of it. It's too valuable to just give away."

[+ElephantEarwax]

On 12/19/2019 at 8:19 AM, Sorana said:

Her warning echoed in her head while she watched Adren draw his fingers along his bandage, his hand twisting in pain. The sight hurt, touched a memory of herself burried somewhere deep in the folds of her brain and she reached into her pocket, wordlessly offered him some painkillers. She didn't smile at him, but her face softened just a tiny bit. "I agree on the sample part. The species in this cave are fascinating." her head nodded towards the beads on the ground. "You are right, we should." She agreed, but didn't kneel down again to start counting yet. Instead she wanted to give Max a chance to voice his idea first.

@ElephantEarwax

Reaching out with his injured arm, Adren accepted the painkillers, tucking them into the bandage on his wrist. Making eye contact, he nodded a thanks. 
"The bio-luminescent plants here are very interesting, there aren't many others. I wonder if they are related to the fungus in the field of rebirth."

"Isn't that fungus called perchwither?"

Still speaking out loud, "That's right, it is perchwither, thanks Jeth."

[+Sorana]

On 20.12.2019 at 0:44 AM, Voidus said:

Whisper copied those around her, looking first with curiosity, then concern towards the walls as one after another they each emitted a horrible cacophony of noise. It had taken nearly all of the Stormlight that she'd had left, with just enough to maintain her appearance with perhaps one or two minor alterations. But it seemed to have caught the attention of the other scouts as she'd intended. With Atium around to stop people from using Allomancy even Corette might be unable to tell, though she would likely be able to guess.

Quote

Does this happen in the atium cave?

 

[Voidus]

Quote

Yep

 

[Fatebreaker]

What's happening to me, to us?

The Stranger turned from even as Lita froze his gaze falling on Laurelai as she stepped into the water. The water lapped around her legs, welcoming her with it's embrace. The falling water cascaded off her head, down her shoulders and into the pool. It would have been a beautiful scene of serenity to anyone who saw it. 

So long as they didn't look deeper than the physical. 

The Stranger opened his Sight, burned bronze, and peered into the cognitive realm. And to him it was a completely different sight. Laurelai was standing in a raging torrent of investiture, caught in the seductive rush of raw Power. It didn't flow over her, but through her, body spirit and mind. It bathed her very core with its essence, transforming her spiritual and cognitive signature. The Stranger kept his laser focus on her, but it didn't seem like it was harming her. In fact, he wasn't sure what it was doing. This was unlike any investiture he had ever encountered, especially in this raw state. So he gazed upon it with keen Hunger, seeking to understand its nature. And then Laurelai looked at him.

He felt it, deep within him, the gaze of the Knowing. There were the eyes of someone who Saw him, like a specimen to be dissected. Laurelai had an expression somewhere between joy and horror, and he wasn't sure which was more worrying. She was looking at him and not looking at him. It was similar to the sensation Lita had caused, but much less focused on him. 

All this transpired in an instant, in the time it takes a fear to grow. And grow it did, but so did the Hunger. Here was a subject deserving of countless hours of study, a wellspring of theories and tests bubbling to life within his mind. What effect would individuals with cognitive dissonance have on the stream? How would a Spinner experience the effect? Sentient constructs? What about...

NO.

He had work to do, an undertaking already underway. He would not be diverted from his fell purpose. This Font of Enlightenment was truly a marvel, but what he was working on eclipsed it in magnitude. 

But then another thought: What if he could use it? A tool to aid his task, another lever with which to move the sphere of the world? This phenomenon expands the mind, beyond the rate and scope of that of any investiture he knew of. He could save so much time and effort, advance his timeframes by entire magnitudes of order. 

Sacrifice. What is the price of this power? Can I afford it, especially now?

He glanced from Laurelai to Lita, at their hungry and haunted expression and thought, Can they?

He thought of Voidus looking at his daughter with sorrow, worry, and a deep, deep love. Voidus would want to know about this, he needed to know so he could step in and make sure it was handled properly. The Stranger prepared to contact him, then stopped.

Voidus could never know about this.

This place granted revelation, knowledge you couldn't know otherwise. If Voidus partook of the water, he could learn of the Stranger's plan, and everything would be ruined. He had to hide this place, and he had to make sure neither of the people here told anyone. He had to keep this secret, had to keep it safe.

He filled his voice with Will and Weight and spoke to the girl in the water,

"Laurelai, come out now."

@Voidus

@ZincAboutIt

Edited December 27, 2019 by Fatebreaker

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita burned Tin, feeling the familiar rush of information hit her senses like a wave. She pushed it higher, then higher still, letting the onslaught of overwhelm shove some of the whispering desire out of her mind. It was still there, even stronger now perhaps, but it competed with dozens of other sensations, each one vying for her attention. Lita’s mind tipped into that clinical, detached place that only came with a true flare. 

The cool air was now a biting cold, the trickle of falling water now a torrent of rushing sound. Lita kept her eyes on the Stranger, watching the cool blue light outline the profile of his face. There was a portion of her mind that fluttered in terror at the idea of openly staring at him, but it was an irrelevant distraction in her place of pure observation.

He was distracted, watching Laurelai with an unreadable expression, something complex and deep, though she could see the water tugging at him, beckoning him forward. He had no visible eyes, but Lita could tell he was seeing everything with a surer, older form of sight. She watched him, letting the full focus of her flare coalesce and constellate around him. And so she caught the moment that his thoughts condensed into tension, then fear.

Fear.

He spoke, and Lita could hear the iron compulsion in his voice, that same voice that had shaken her free of the lure of the water. But Lita had no spare thought for Laurelai. The Stranger was afraid. But of what? 

Something skittered at the back of her mind, shy and easily spooked. Lita held her thoughts in stillness, letting the pure focus of the Tineye saturate her consciousness. If she chased it, the thought would flee. All she had to do was wait. 

It circled slowly, a wild and feral thing fearful of stepping into the light. But eventually, Lita made out its shape and form. She smiled a cold smile, tilting her head to the side a bit as she spoke.

”You were in the dark, with your black hammer and forge. I found you,” she whispered, “amidst a thousand burning stars.”

Lita danced the Coin across the back of her hand and felt the cold tracing of a tear on her cheek. Her mind barely processed the others that followed

“For a moment I...” The memory slipped back into the dark, dissolving like ink in water. She blinked, coming back to herself a bit, though still deep in her Tin flare. 

“This will have a price, won’t it?”

@Fatebreaker @Voidus

[Fatebreaker]

"You were in the dark, with your black hammer and forge. I found you, amidst a thousand burning stars."

The Stranger froze, the words striking him with the force of blows. How did she... the Water. 

He didn't seem to move, but he began compounding speed, effectively freezing the world. He had to think. Too much was happening all at once, he was losing control of the situation. First Lita had, perhaps inadvertently, mentally blindsided him. Then he had learned of the existence of the Fountain, which would have been a momentous occasion in another time, but under the present circumstances was more of a threat. Then Laurelai had Looked at him with the Fountain's power. And now Lita apparently new of his project. It was like a dam that had begun to fail, for each leak he plugged, another sprung anew. And he was running out of plugs. 

His hands closed and opened, and tried to think of solutions. You have a solution, destroy this place and leave no witnesses. 

No, Laurelai is Voidus' daughter, I can't kill her.

Then make her comatose, she won't be dead and won't be able to tell anyone.

Voidus would investigate the cause, and that could endanger the work. Perhaps if we framed... NO! I won't harm her, she's the only child of my friend. My only friend. I'm doing this for him, for the world of course, but for him most importantly.

Stop lying to yourself, you're doing this for YOU. You're doing it to see if you can. You can lie to yourself about selflessness and correction, about your idyllic paradise, but the truth is you're bored. You're bored and you're curious. 

That's not... that's not the whole truth.

You're ready to kill the child of your only friend and a girl you've been mentoring...

I haven't been mentoring her!

You appeared to her before you spoke to anyone else. You gave her one of your personal creations. You gave her a Spike! You've spent more time with her than anyone other than Voidus. And you were ready to kill her.

YOU were ready to kill her!

I AM YOU! You don't have a split personality, you're not talking to one of the countless souls you've taken, you're talking to YOURSELF. 

The Stranger felt the muscles in his jaw tightening as his control started to slip. The shadows in the cavern boiled, writhing with silent fury. He looked at Lita, and the shadows were already starting to pool around her. Was this truly the only way, to kill these girls? 

No. There would be another way, he just had to reexamine the data. He stopped tapping Steel and tried to think of what to say.

"For a moment I.." continued speaking, unaware of how close she was to death. Then she blinked and her was fell with a look of confusion as she trailed off. She seemed to search for the thought, like a lost child reaching into a dark pool. But her search seemed to be in vain, and as tears traced silver paths across her face she spoke softly, "This will have a price won't it?"

The Stranger felt the ghost of a wry grin assert itself, "You have no idea, Little Lita." He stepped towards her and laid a hand on her shoulder, noticing the shadows dissipate out of the corner of his eye. "I have something I must ask of you, something of the utmost importance."

His grip on her shoulder tightened, and he leaned in, his face grim. "I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing down here, what you know about this place, and who else knows." He reached into his grey lab coat and pulled out a metallic stud. His voice was measured, but he held her gaze with an intensity that could melt stone.

"And then I need you to give me those memories. "

@ZincAboutIt @Voidus

Edited January 18, 2020 by Fatebreaker

[+ZincAboutIt]

Lita froze when the Stranger laid a hand on her shoulder, flicking her eyes downward at his fingers, at the back of his hand, solid and real.

Of course he's real, some small portion of her mind chided, but still. He'd never actually touched her, not when he gave her the Coin, not when he'd given her the spike. He hadn't even picked her up off the ground afterwards, and Lita had never expected him to. He was a god, and gods did not touch mortals. Not without very good reason. 

Lita shivered, pulling her eyes away from his hand and trying to focus on what he was saying to her. There was a coldness in the air that had nothing to do with the chill of the grotto, like the afterimage of a dream - something that had almost happened, but did not. But that possibility wasn't dead yet. Whatever the Stranger had almost done, he could set in motion again. 

She processed his words slowly, her Tin still registering all the other extraneous details of the scene, his face, the way he moved, the measure in his voice that was at odds with the tightness in his fingers where they dug into her shoulder. The gesture was at once protective and possessive, and it terrified her in a way she could not describe. 

"I have something I must ask of you, something of the utmost importance. I need you to tell me exactly what you're doing down here, what you know about this place, and who else knows."

Lita swallowed hard, trying not to think about how easily the Stranger had ripped off Lord Ajax's arms six months ago with the same hand that now gripped her shoulder.

Pull it together Lita, she thought, taking a small breath, forcing herself to look into his face. Just another report, like any other day. Just more intelligence, more reconnaissance. You're a spy - you can do this.

"We came down..." Lita trailed off as the Stranger reached into his tattered lab coat and pulled out something small and metallic.

"And then I need you to give me those memories," he said. 

Her heart stopped for a moment, and she met his gaze then, all the force of that will and power boring into her. "You want... my memories?"

Lita could feel her confusion ignite into panic, and then, like someone blowing on an ember, that panic slowly began to heat into anger. He wanted her memories, and he just expected her to give them to him? Her knowledge? Her secrets? The things she had bled and reached and scrambled and killed for? She looked past him then, towards the water still falling blue and luminous, still calling her forward. It could give her knowledge she couldn't even dream of - it had. It had given her more, even, than the Stranger could give her. She looked back to him now, and she held up the Coin in her left hand, bringing it to eye level. Its face gleamed with the image of the sun - the light of truth.

"You told me to never stop searching," she whispered. "That truth and Science would guide me to the secrets that I wanted to know, if I was willing to pay for them. And I have paid for them."

Lita said the last bit through clenched teeth, moving her hand back to her side and clutching the Coin in her palm. "And when I finally find something, learn something of true value," she continued, "you want to take it from me?"

More tears began gathering at the corners of her eyes, hot and angry. She tried to blink them away, but instead they fell down her cheeks and into her collar, momentarily blurring the Stranger's face. "I know I saw something in that water, but... whatever it is, I don't care. I won't tell anyone - I can barely remember myself! I'd never do anything against you - you're the only one who's ever told me --"

Told me I could attain anything in life. Lita paused, swallowing what felt like a sob and angrily scrubbing her hand across her eyes, praying to anyone that this was all a terrible dream, that she would wake up in her room behind the blue door and forget this cruel fiction. She drew in a ragged breath, feeling the leaden weight of dread settle onto her, warring with her fury. There was no refusing the Stranger, and Lita knew it. He had too much power, and power was the true currency in this life. Lita simply didn't have enough. She had never had enough, and then, when he took her memories of this place, Lita would never even recall how close she had come.

"If our places were reversed," she said suddenly, looking into his eyes. "If I were to ask you for your memories of this place, what you'd learned. What you'd seen. Would you do it? Could you let it go? Even if," Lita paused, taking a breath. "Even if you knew you'd die if you refused?"

@Fatebreaker @Voidus

[AonEne]

7 hours ago, Fatebreaker said:

He didn't seem to move, but he began compounding speed, effectively freezing the world. He had to think.

He stopped tapping Steel and tried to think of what to say. 

Quote

Did he compound physical speed or mental speed? You said steel, but that’s physical, but he’s thinking...sorry for the question, I’m just confused. 

Great scene between you two, as always. 

 

[Voidus]

14 hours ago, AonEne said:

Did he compound physical speed or mental speed? You said steel, but that’s physical, but he’s thinking...sorry for the question, I’m just confused. 

Great scene between you two, as always. 

Quote

Speed does give you bullettime per WoB so it would allow you to think faster as well, basically just giving you more time to think whereas mental speed is apparently more linked to intuitive leaps of logic.

Laurelai was assaulted by a cascade of images, images of times long ago. She felt understanding flow into her along with them, but it was too much, too vast a time period for her to be able to follow any one thread of information. With agonising slowness she felt her lungs expand as she took a deep breath to calm herself and focus her mind. She could feel the oxygen flowing into her bloodstream sluggishly making its way to her brain, feel her muscle fibers relax one by one.

Was this how Lita saw the world? So full of distractions, so full of information. Enough to drown in, to lose your mind following every thread until you spread your attention so thin that you just snapped. And what of the Stranger? How did he see the world? Did he sit apart from it as Voidus so often did? Staring at the world with a tired sense of responsibility? Laurelai could feel the weight that Voidus bore, she could feel her awareness brush up against where he sat in his office but didn't dare to examine him too closely.

She shifted her focus back to herself, back to her present. She understood herself as she never had before, felt that she could make the most perfect of Soulstamps in this state, one that might even bypass the usual limitations for sentient objects and become permanent. She could change her life, any part of her life, not just in the usual transient way that she cleaned her clothes or adjusted her fields of expertise but she could truly become someone else entirely.

As she was exploring the possibilities she felt an outside force wrap around her, a compulsion issued to her. The Stranger stared at her with an undeniable will as he issued his inexorable orders. Laurelai felt herself move before she could even think, but time still stretched around her, the rush of knowledge into her mind still flowed. She resisted with all that she could, felt her legs slow in their forward stride until it was moving at a snails pace. But sooner or later that momentum would still carry her out, out and away from this source that could answer all of her burning questions. All the knowledge that she desired.

As soon as she stepped free of the waters, this knowledge would drain from her. And she knew that the Stranger was not likely to allow her back again, likely feared what she had already learned. Could she do something now? The Stranger was one of the original members of the DA, a veritable god who had been alive for centuries if not millennia. But with the waters at her disposal, she could Forge as she never could before, possibly enough to even affect a god?

No, even if she could do such a thing, which even the waters couldn't definitively tell her, there were bound to be consequences. She'd blown something up the last time she'd tried to channel just enough power to affect something Invested. How much more catastrophic would the results be if she attempted to affect someone as powerful as the Stranger? It was too much of a risk, but what else could she do?

She watched the Stranger and Lita continue to speak, the growing tension in the air between them. But even that would not be enough of a distraction, Lita might have been able to fight off the draw of the Waters for now, but she would feel it again soon. And The Stranger would not just forget about her here, he couldn't leave something this important to itself. Which left only one option.

Within moments Laurelai had completed the mental image for the stamp, it was remarkably simple compared to most Soulstamps, but every line was precisely placed without any waste or guesswork. Simple, but elegant. A small twist of power was all that it took to apply to herself as she stepped free from the waters. She felt a sudden and strange sense of vertigo as the almost infinite wells of knowledge vanished from her awareness. Her gaze darted about in confusion as the compulsion continued to pull her out of the waters until she stood next to the Stranger.

"Hello, er... sir." She stammered out, struggling to speak smoothly through the disarray of her thoughts.

[+Sorana]

On 22.12.2019 at 8:04 AM, ElephantEarwax said:

Reaching out with his injured arm, Adren accepted the painkillers, tucking them into the bandage on his wrist. Making eye contact, he nodded a thanks. 
"The bio-luminescent plants here are very interesting, there aren't many others. I wonder if they are related to the fungus in the field of rebirth."

"You're welcome." she replied and the hint of a smile touched her lips. "If you want to, we could spend some time and take a closer look at them, once we're done here." She was about to add something else when she heard a first scream. It seemed to come from one of the walls and she turned, looked around the cave to see if something had changed. The screams picked up and she could hear the murmur of the other scouts, how the turned and stared at the wall.

A few turned around and ran away, when the noise picked up, a horrifying mixture of screams and noise echoing through the cave, shaking her to the bone. She worked hard to keep her face calm and controlled, although she knew that she wasn't quite able to hide her worry and the uneasyness the situation caused. Nothing changed apart from that, no animals appeared, no person. She inhaled, until she held just a little bit of stormlight and reached out for the spren around her. They were still there, just as they had before and as noone else of the main scout team left she decided to stay as well, careful she kept an eye on the Underling and on Max. It somehow felt a little like a distraction, but until she was sure, she had to remain alert.

They still had to distribute the atium, and then it was waiting. Althea couldn't help but to be annoyed at the prospect of waiting till someone deigned to show up, to take care of things, questioned her decision again and ended up at the same result. It was better to remove it from easy grasp and the best place to do that, was the DA. It was as easy as that, and at the same time she couldn't suppress the nagging voice that wished she had been able to destroy all of this immediatly.

[Fatebreaker]

""If our places were reversed, if I were to ask you for your memories of this place, what you'd learned. What you'd seen. Would you do it? Could you let it go? Even if," Lita paused, taking a breath. "Even if you knew you'd die if you refused?"

Her words rung in the Stranger's mind, like a tolling bell. He felt his hypocrisy like raw pitch, coating his words. She was right. Of course he wouldn't have complied, he would have done everything in his power to avoid compliance. And if there were no alternatives, he would have taken his knowledge to the grave. And that was what had drawn him to Lita in the first place. His Shade had sensed her drive, her Hunger. He had felt the resonance of one so familiar despite never meeting her before. He had known what to offer her, how to guide her on the path she now tread.He looked at the spot in her side where he knew the spike to be, his iron eye outlining it in blue. It had been a heavy price, but in her eyes he had seen that she had paid greater ones.

He looked at the coin in her hand, glinting even in the faint light. It had become her talisman, her lucky charm, her guiding star. He wished he had never made the blasted thing. But that was a lie, he knew. There had never been another better suited for his work, for this work specifically. The Coin had galvanized her ambition, inspired her growth. It had been like giving an eagle its wings. Or perhaps its talons.

The Stranger looked at Lita, at the tears running down her face, and felt a cold, writhing shame stir within him. And something else, he couldn't quite describe. Pride? Anger? No, regret? But why? What was causing him to feel regret? Why was he feeling so many emotions? Too many emotions. He wasn't used to this, to feeling so out of control. And Lita was the root of it, though exactlywhy he could not say. She was becoming an obstacle, a hindering element to his work. He knew she would not give him the memories of her own volition, so he would either have to take the memories or eliminate her entirely. It would be no easy thing, but his work was paramount, and great endeavors required Sacrifice. He was a scientist, not some philosopher to bemoan morality and obligation. He had work to do.

He lowered his hand and closed it into a fist around the metal stud. He felt it elongate into a thin, short spike that was obscured within his palm. He rested his thumb on the head of the spike, and looked into Lita's eyes. Each heartbeat echoed in his ears like the tread of a greatshell. His grin faded completely as he answered her question.

"No, not if God himself were to ask."

Her green eyes sparkled in the ghostly light. Green eyes filled with tears. Green eyes...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"It will work, trust me. I've studied the diagrams extensively, and I'm positive we'll be successful."

"Are you sure? And I'll still be able to..."

"Of course you will, I wouldn't lie to you about this! This is the culmination of years of research! I'm about to do something no one has accomplished since the Lord Ruler! And it will be even better, more efficient and less wasteful. I'm going to change history, change our understanding of Science itself!"

"I know, I know how important this is to you! But I'm scared, really scared. Is it going to hurt? How long before you can be sure it worked? And even if you get it right, I don't know if I can give up such an important piece of myself, even if you think you can heal me. It won't be the same, I just know it..."

"It WILL be the same. You just have to trust me! Scientific breakthrough do not come cheaply, they require dedication and hard work. It requires Sacrifice."

"Reshilore, are you sure? Are you absolutely sure I'll be okay?"

"...of course I am. I wouldn't do it if I wasn't sure I wasn't asking you to do something dangerous. Now lie still, Victoria, this will all be over soon..."

He looked into her green eyes, her beautiful green eyes and raised the hammer...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hello, err, ...sir."

The Stranger snapped out of the forgotten memory like he had been slapped in the face. Laurelai, she had left the fountain, walked out of it. He tried to think, to formulate a plan, but he was still reeling from the shock of the memory. Laurelai had a strange expression on her face. What did she know? Had she looked at him too? What was that memory? Who, ...who was Victoria?

He tried to speak coherently, pulling himself together by the barest seams. Tell her something, anything.

"Ah, um, Laurelai. You... both of you must avoid the waterfall, it's dangerous. Who knows what the source of the magic is, what the long term effects are? It's best just to be safe."

He struggled for more words, but none of them made any sense. He looked at both girls faces and wondered, what they saw now? A benevolent god? Or a cruel monster? Or something even worse...

@Voidus. 

@ZincAboutIt

Edited January 7, 2020 by Fatebreaker

[+ZincAboutIt]

"No, not if God himself were to ask."

The Stranger was still gripping her shoulder with one hand, and he lowered his other to his side. His face was inscrutable, wracked with the tiny lines and minute twitches that accompany a maelstrom of concealed emotion. Lita watched him, her mind drifting through terror and anger in equal measure - anger at the Stranger, yes, but more anger at herself. Anger at the fact that she still gazed up at him with awe, despite - perhaps even because of - his arrogance. His assumption that of course, she would simply give him what he asked. Because who could challenge him? Who could even begin to match his power?

Someone could, that little voice whispered, and Lita felt a moment of intense vertigo, like stepping backwards and finding only air beneath your heel. Her vision blurred, and the ghost of a memory bloomed in her mind - the shape of what she had seen in the water. Lita's thoughts raced at a speed she could barely process, making jumps in logic that would have been impossible in another few hours. But here, in this place, so close to the water... For now, for this moment, she understood.

"Hello, err,... sir."

Lita's head snapped around at the sound of Laurelai's voice. She was out of the water, looking as confused as Lita had felt when she'd first staggered out herself. The Stranger seemed equally shocked by Laurelai's sudden emergence, surfacing from a great ways away, reeling with... something.

"Ah, um, Laurelai. You... both of you must avoid the waterfall, it's dangerous. Who knows what the source of the magic is, what the long term effects are? It's best just to be safe." His words were halting, disjointed, like a man woken suddenly from a deep, deep dream.

Lita bit her lip in frustration, already feeling the edges of her own thoughts begin to fray again. She couldn't speak aloud now, not with Laurelai out of the water. Think, Lita.

In her palm, the Coin pulsed with a low, gentle warmth, like a cat nudging an oblivious human's leg. Lita clutched it tighter, almost laughing with relief. Of course. All she had to do was think.

'Sixty-three shoes,' she thought quickly, pouring her mental energy through the link, hoping the Stranger would hear her, hoping she could make any sense out of the vast jumble of knowledge that thundered in her mind. 'We found sixty-three right shoes in a cave further up, sitting in a pile. Sixty-three people missing from a tenement that vanished overnight, right down to the foundation. And there are others, other places that have just... gone. Erased. No sound, no trace. I received a tip - that's why we came down here, the three of us. Me, Laurelai, and the Radiant.'

Lita could feel her heart thunder in her ears, sure that someone else must hear it too, even without Tin. She took another breath. 'Whatever you're doing, things are happening. People have noticed. And even if you take my memories, if you keep on the way you're going, he will notice too. You know he will.'

She forced her eyes to meet his, green into black, letting herself fall down the well of that darkness. Lita felt the draw on her soul, the lure of the Void - everything and nothing. She stood before the ouroboros, the snake devouring its own tail. Entropy and infinity. Creation, through destruction. She wanted it with a hunger that tore at her very spirit.

'I knew you, for a moment.' Lita glimpsed it again - darkness, broken by bright sparks. 'Glorious. And alone. But you don't need to be.'

Her hand moved almost of its own accord, reaching up across her body before she could stop herself and placing her fingers on the back of the Stranger's hand. His skin felt rough and strange, almost patterned beneath her fingertips, and colder than she'd have expected. But real. He was real, and whatever he was now, he had once been as fragile and human and desperately ambitious as she was.

'You came to me when I had nearly nothing, when I was no one. You took a risk. Now let me show you why,' she thought fiercely, hope and fear and anger flaring like metal within her. 'You began an experiment. Don't end it before it's done.'

@Fatebreaker

@Voidus

[Voidus]

"Ah, um, Laurelai. You... both of you must avoid the waterfall, it's dangerous. Who knows what the source of the magic is, what the long term effects are? It's best just to be safe." The Stranger said.

Laurelai stared at him blankly, blinking several times in succession. Her head still felt muddled, as though she had been in the middle of some incredibly important thought but been interrupted. But more confusing still was the Stranger's reaction, he seemed hesitant. Unsure? It was not a state she'd seen from him before. Voidus had expressed emotions at times, exhaustion, anger, but the Stranger had moved through every conversation with a sense of determination and purpose. He had expressed emotions, but never been consumed by them, not like this.

Shaking her head, Laurelai glanced towards Lita, wondering what she would make of this. As soon as her eyes focused on Lita's familiar figure she felt a sudden rush of emotions. Hurt, she couldn't remember exactly, the last few seconds were all muddled together, but something Lita had done had hurt. But also irritation, jealousy, and a strange sense of longing that she couldn't quite place. That last one didn't seem to even be directed towards Lita at all, but at something else.

The waters.

Her eyes followed the Strangers, towards the waterfall that he cautioned against. But as soon as her eyes touched it, she felt no sense of danger just an overwhelming desire to stand underneath it again.

Again? Did I before?

One hand reached up, brushing against her hair only to find it perfectly dry. So she hadn't been under it. But why did she feel like she had? Why did she feel a desire to return?
As soon as the questions came into her mind she felt the draw of the waters grow. They promised answers, to those questions and more.

"Dangerous." She agreed instinctively.

But her expression was not fearful. Even while she understood that any artefact that could draw at her like that must possess some hidden danger, she couldn't force herself to actually believe it. Couldn't muster up any sense of fear to the waters.

"Perhaps we should research it." She said, turning towards the Stranger but with eyes still glued to the waters. "It's bound to be useful somehow."

@Fatebreaker

[I think I am here.]

On 20/12/2019 at 1:28 AM, ZincAboutIt said:

More trouble, she thought, not taking her eyes from the man.

"Sightseeing?" she called. "Or are you here for something else?"

“Sightseeing, yeah,” Max said and grinned. “Sure can get a good view out here.”

He looked back to the Atium stash and to Althea.

“We have what’s essentially a money-printer here,” he said. “Wouldn’t it make sense to hand it over to the government? It sure would make a fine addition to the other money-printers they have to keep the economy afloat. Onky difference being that this cave creates metal instead of bank notes.”

He glanced once more at the atium. “Giving it all to the DA is excessive. I —”

Screams commanded his attention and he angled his gaze towards the source, just beyond the cave walls. Another exploration party? Althea hadn’t told him whether there were supposed to be multiple or not.

When I was coming down here, he said to Althea. I didn’t see any evidence of another crew or any creature that could have harmed them. Or harmed them this much. And it was true, these screams were terrible. Just in case, he readied his stance to summon Sethramir if necessary.

—x—

Wes yelped when the screams started coming from the walls. Screams! He paled when he imagined what could causing those screams. Could that happen to him? Keeping an eye on the screaming walls he stood closer to the Righthand. She would be able to do something, he was sure. Better than just standing around and being tortured by whatever lay just beyond the walls.

[kenod]

Karin looked suspiciously at the newcomer, wondering who he was. He was obviously a friend of Althea, but she didn't know anything besides that. He started talking about giving it the city, and she wanted to sigh. They had already discussed that, didn't they? Still, she had to admit it was the logical step to take in this case. The issue was just that the government was way to weak to ever properly deal with this place. But just as she wanted to say something in response a terrible screaming came from the walls, nearly deafening her, and then actually deafening her as she instinctively shifted away her eardrums. Panicked she started spinning around, trying to pinpoint the source of the screams, her skin turned to a tar-like black as the panic caused her to ready her body to start sprouting tentacles, a few small tendrils already extending from her skin at places.

Quote

Maybe we can just have this cause everyone to run back to the base-camp, so we can do a small time-skip for the guild teams to arrive/start sneaking in?

 

Edited January 9, 2020 by kenod

[+Invocation]

Upon the appearance of a threatening pseudo-deity, Okame did the smart thing and turned around, walking back the way they had come.

The other two would have to deal with that on their own, but if he spent very much longer in that room, he'd end up crumbling and giving into his instincts. 

He was not willing to risk that.

[+Sorana]

Quote

Do you still plan to have someone show up?

@kenod @ZincAboutIt