Session 100

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 11

Random_Nerd: With the next real session, whether it be now or later, did you want to try to finish up the cult stuff, or start a new storyline?
Theresa: Part of me wants to start something new, mostly because I can't think of any way to clean up and tie up the cult stuff.
Knockwood: except that we specifically went out to try and get rid of the cult...
Theresa: Yep. Just because i can't think of anything doesn't mean we should clean up after ourselves. Plus, what are we going to do with the giant? He's vunerable now.
Knockwood: There's still a source of the cult's corruption...
Theresa: And we don't know if that is what drew James back or if he's connected with whatever was doing the corruption... (Since he couldn't have _caused_ it since it started before we were even enNobled.)
Random_Nerd: A wizard did it!
Random_Nerd: Really, what you guys need to do is track down that dang Wizard Who Did It and break his knees.
Theresa: We'll put that on the list. It's most probable that he is a Noble.
Knockwood: (Hang on, phone call.)
Knockwood: (dang insurance salesmen...)
Knockwood: Let's see, do we have any leads?
Random_Nerd: Do /you/ have Chancel Insurance?
Theresa: On who did that to the cult, don't think so.
Knockwood: (Been a while.) Let's see, we tried asking nicely (heh)
Theresa: We tried poking around.
Random_Nerd: Really, do you /want/ to keep dealing with the cult right now, or would you rather do something else?
Knockwood: we want to get _rid_ of the bleedin' cult
Theresa: Agreed. In it's present state, it's more of a liability than a help. And I can't see a way of reforming it without rewriting people.
Knockwood: unless we have a different investigative tack we haven't tried...
Theresa: I don't think we have any favors due us from Excrucians.
Random_Nerd: So, as players, you want the game to rotate around dealing with the cult for some time?
Theresa: (This is why we need a third person, for tie-breakers, fast typing and breaking silences.)
Theresa: I would like it to go with dealing with the cult for a while longer. Then when it is reasonably nailed down, go to something else.
Random_Nerd: Hmm. Okay.
Knockwood: Let's see, we just witnessed Kudzu eating James, right?
Random_Nerd: Yeah.
Theresa: Yes. And a hole in the ground with a tunnel.
Random_Nerd: Which you covered up with plants, right?

• • • Knockwood is now known as DanteE.
      

Theresa: *thinks* *checks logs*
Theresa: Yes, it looks like Theresa filled it in with roots.
DanteE: hm... what if we swing by the Library and see what it has on Cults, Azrael, et cetera?
Random_Nerd: So, are we ready to go?
Theresa: I'm willing for a Library stop. Might give some ideas. I'm ready.
Random_Nerd: ________________START___________________
Random_Nerd: The library, of course, doesn't really look much like one at all. More like what you'd get if you crossed a mole and a wasp, grew it to immense size, and hopped it up on LSD. The twisting earthwork tunnels, as odd as they look, shape the winds moving through them to produce the sound of whispering voices.
Theresa: "This place is rather calming, with all of the whispering..."
Random_Nerd: According to Kudzu, everything that would be common knowledge among modern nobles is contained in these voices' words, but you've already found curious gaps and evasions, mostly related to his friends and enemies.
DanteE: "Well, let's hope Cults for Dummies isn't checked out..."
Random_Nerd: As far as Azazel goes, little information is present beyond a list of his estates (not counting Weapons), his name, and his imperator type. Even by the standards of the Library's Imperator biographies, this is sparse.
Random_Nerd: Furthermore, you know that at least some of what it doesn't say, like his bad blood with Kudzu, is indeed fairly well known.
Random_Nerd: In contrast, the information on cults is far broader and deeper.
Random_Nerd: (Anything in particular you're looking for on them?0
Random_Nerd: )
Theresa: (Best way to deal with a corrupted cult.)
Random_Nerd: Corrupted cults have two defining characteristics relevant to dealing with them. The former is the involvement of Excrucians, their shards, or their anchors. No known cases exist of cults which "went bad" entirely on their own in a manner that produces the effects associated with a corrupted cult.
Random_Nerd: Thus, this means that there is a reasonable chance that any corrupt cult will have malign miraculous backup in important matters.
Random_Nerd: The second, of course, is their corrosive effects on miracles of Realm and Domain.
Random_Nerd: Three main approaches exist to deal with this.
Random_Nerd: The first is the reliance on only the miraculous abilities of one's body and mind, without recourse to anything more esoteric, when cultists are believed to be around.
Random_Nerd: The second is the use of mundane force and methods. While corrupt cults will tend to have some minor supernatural powers, they're not such that they can't be dealt with by human soldiers or investigators, as long as their Excrucian masters don't show up.
Random_Nerd: The third is the use of Nobles from unrelated Families.
Random_Nerd: Their powers work perfectly reliably in the presence of the cult, allowing them reliable and effective divinations and interventions.
Theresa: (Hmm...so the corruption only affects those whom the cult is connected to? I think I hadn't realized that.)
Random_Nerd: It's not unheard of for two families of Nobles who have acquired corrupt cults to establish a "You scratch my back, I scratch yours" arrangement.

• Theresa asks for a list of corrupted cults.
  

Random_Nerd: (That's pretty much all it says about dealing with them.)
Random_Nerd: There doesn't seem to be an itemized list. Perhaps, although not certainly, this is because most Nobles keep such cults a secret, as they don't want to expose a sign of weakness.
Random_Nerd: Besides, one's corrupt cult can be used against one by Nobles as well as by Excrucians.
Theresa: (And Entropy's law is against the Kill Them All method of dealing?)
Random_Nerd: (Like Excrucians, members of a corrupt cult are not assumed to be trying to do harm, in the absence of specific evidence.)
DanteE: (We don't know that many other nobles... and arguably only one family we know well enough to ask)
DanteE: (Unless...)
DanteE: (Come to think of it, if method #3 is known enough, a family somewhere might just look for it through subtle connections.)
Theresa: (Yeah, but they would also have to trust the connections not to blab or sell the info.)
DanteE: (That eliminates the Cams...)
Random_Nerd: (Well, the Cams tend to be reliable, in their own odd way. If you make secrecy a condition of the job, they'd accept that, although they'd charge more for it.)
Random_Nerd: (But the fact that they're useful and they keep their word is one of the two reasons they're still around even though many Nobles dislike them.)
Theresa: "Hmm..how much do you think razing that factory to the ground would help break up the cult?"
DanteE: "Doubt it...
Random_Nerd: (Well, the local branch seems to be pretty much broken, as far as you can tell.)
DanteE: "The factory wasn't doing anything, it's the people in it"
DanteE: (Think, tho: similar to Cams, less bastardy)
Random_Nerd: (You scared the people who survived quite a bit, and their former leader is dead, plus their plan is pretty much broken.)
Theresa: "Well, what's left of the bricks are still there. Plus they could reform. Although if I was normal and went through all of that, I wouldn't want to sleep for a year and would be very twitchy around mortar."
Theresa: (Dunno if the Aides would make secrecy available.)
Random_Nerd: (They normally do. The problem is that they can't get you miracles directly at all, and their ability to facilitate deals with other Nobles mostly consists of those Nobles who have Aides employed by them, rather than the immense network of favors the Cams have.)
Random_Nerd: (As a general rule, the Aides are far better at supplying expert mortals, but far worse at supplying miracles.)
DanteE: (which means they'd need us for miracles...)

• Theresa asks about whether cults can be redeemed.
  

Random_Nerd: There doesn't seem to be a clear consensus. One voice maintains that they can, with large effort. Another seems to think that it'd be far easier to destroy the cult entirely and then build up a new one in its place.
Random_Nerd: The former asserts, without details, that it's successfully been done before.
Random_Nerd: The latter argues that the Excrucian types most likely to use cults also tend to use methods of manipulating humans that can really only be undone with highly invasive miracles.
Theresa: (Does it describe 'destroy entirely'?)
DanteE: (so, the library's arguing with itself.)
Theresa: (Presenting different debates.  :) )
Random_Nerd: ("Destroy entirely" seems to involve killing or brainwashing every individual cult member.)
Theresa: (I don't trust Theresa's brainwashing around corrupted cultists. She could tell them to get her a sandwich and they'll bring back a shark.)
Random_Nerd: (More likely, they'd bring every sandwich within five miles, or die trying.)
Random_Nerd: (The times we've seen it corrupted, it seemed to result in doing what she wanted to far higher of a degree, along with a complete lack of understanding that anything unusual was taking place.)
Random_Nerd: (Also, people she's used it on when it was corrupted seemed less able to disagree with her about anything, later.)
Theresa: (Sounds like a Beth.  :) )

• Theresa presents the idea to Dante. "What do you think of us brainwashing the remaining cultists, dry their brains, send them on their way and then have Jim keep an eye out for them?"
  

DanteE: "Depends on the nature of what'shisface's control"
DanteE: "Plus, how do you plan on doing the brainwashing?"
Theresa: "I was thinking about outsourcing."
Theresa: "Asking the Aides about freelance brainwash-and-fluff and see what the rates are.)
Theresa: "
Random_Nerd: (Let's see, who do you know who has brainwashing-esque abilities? Theresa, of course, and some of the rest of you can do simila things with Domain. Some of the Dionyl you'd met could probably do it in at least some cases. Uh, let's see, when you first met Consequences, he was removing aspects of someone's personality. That's all I can think of.)
DanteE: (Well, there's the former Psych student...)
Random_Nerd: (Former Psych student?)
DanteE: (Me, remember?)
Theresa: (Isn't that you?)_
Random_Nerd: (Yeah, I mentioned that some of you can do similar things with Domain.)
Theresa: (Hmm..what about hypnotizing as a matter of Aspect?)
Random_Nerd: (Except I spelled "similar" incorrectly. Hi, Tpyo!)
Random_Nerd: (Aspect hypnosis is mostly just good for party tricks.)
Random_Nerd: (The same rules applied to mortal hypnosis done by a really skilled individual count.)
DanteE: "I think we need to get to the source, otherwise it'll come back."
DanteE: "Unless you plan on adopting the cult..."
Theresa: (So, if Dante did it with Domain or Theresa with her Gift, we'd have the same chance at stupid-corruption-tricks.)
Theresa: "I would prefer a puppy."
Random_Nerd: (Pretty much, yeah.)
Theresa: "But we don't really have any clues as to _who_ is behind it. No calling cards or sneering across galaxies."
Random_Nerd: (Just like if any of you used Realm.)
Random_Nerd: (Well, you know some stuff. There seem to be signs of the cult having been used by two Excrucians in the recent past.)
Random_Nerd: (One Deceiver, one Strategist.)
Random_Nerd: (The main goal of the former seemed to be an attack on Numbers, and the goal of the latter seemed to involve Urbanization and Weird Jameseque Shit.)
DanteE: (Numbers + Urbanization... population figures?)
Random_Nerd: (Also, it's unclear on whether the two were involved at all with each other, or if one or both were just using the most convenient tool to hand.)
DanteE: "Hm... I think he (the giant) was in their custody when we fought off that NUmbers attack...

• Theresa asks the Library if there are any Excrucians who are known to have an interest in numbers or cities.
  

Random_Nerd: No voices seem to be speaking about that.
DanteE: "Waaaaait a sec...
DanteE: "We know Kudzu has connections on the other side...
DanteE: "He might just have enemies as well."
Random_Nerd: (That would be plausible. The quasi-friendly connection you know of is a Warmain, and he seemed to have nothing to do with the cult.)
DanteE: "Anyone who wants to fight him would use an existing weakness."
Theresa: "And this cult has been around for a while."
Theresa: "But doesn't that make our list of possible Excrucians even bigger?"

• Theresa will ask for a list of Excrucians that Kudzu has come into contact with.
  

Theresa: (Hmm, almost typed 'contract' with.)
Random_Nerd: The Library doesn't seem to contain any specific information about any Excrucians, even in the sketchy way that it does about Imperators.
Random_Nerd: That seems to fall outside the scope of what it was set up to tell you about.
DanteE: "He was involved in a tempering..."
Random_Nerd: (That does get you a possible in, though, since historical Imperators often /are/ covered.)

• DanteE listens for Imps who Kudzu knew who were ... lost.
  
• Theresa asks for information on the Imperatoer that Kudzu knew that was tempered.
  

Theresa: (Never mind.  :) )
Random_Nerd: (Only two dead Imperators that were friends with Kudzu seem to be listed, and only one was killed by a Warmain. Querian, a Magister of the Dark. He was the Imperator of the malignity of angles, the sixth flavor, and of clouds made of corpses.)
Random_Nerd: (He was killed in a battle in the Spirit World, about thirty years ago.)
DanteE: "I can see the Malignity of Angles connections to NUmbers, through geometry or trigonometry...
DanteE: "clouds made of corpses... easiest way to get a bunch of corpses is to hang around a city"
Theresa: "I'm just surprised there was something beyond MSG."
Theresa: "Do we have a name or shard of the Excrucian involveD?
Random_Nerd: (There isn't a name listed, but there is a mention that the Warmain involved seemed to have Tempered himself in Querian's image.)

• DanteE listens for how a tempered Imp's name changes
  

Theresa: (How would we be able to find him?)
Random_Nerd: (Well, as a full Excruian, he's nearly surely on the Other Side.)
DanteE: (by the Truth of the Name)
Random_Nerd: (But on the other hand, you do know of at least one person who can get in touch with him...)
Random_Nerd: (No, the Truth of the Name is for Deceivers using a Second Skin.)
Random_Nerd: (Tempering is different.)
Theresa: (We can't ask Kudzu to ask his Warmain buddy to knock it off with the cult...can we? That would be a different sort of crazy.)
Random_Nerd: (Well, you have no reason to believe that that Warmain has anything to do with the cult.)
Random_Nerd: (In the time that you fought his shards, there was no sign of the cult.)
Random_Nerd: (And no distinctively Warmain abilities or methods have shown up in association with the cult.)
DanteE: "Hm... what can we do with the name of an Excrucian?"
Random_Nerd: (Doesn't seem to give you any specific form of power over them. And you can't pray to an Excrucian, as they don't have Domains.)
Random_Nerd: (Also, on a side note, most names of Excrucians seem to have been taken from something in Creation.)
Random_Nerd: (So, outside, either they have different names that they don't use here, or they don't use names among themselves.)
DanteE: "Theresa... what if you convinced the cultists we've either captured or defeated Qu... whatshisface?"
Theresa: "I can try, but it won't be perfect. They may end up being convinced that _we've_ been defeated."
Random_Nerd: (Uh, again. What does the Warmain have to do with it?)
Random_Nerd: (They wouldn't even know who he is.)
DanteE: "The Excrucian has been convincing them he's part of creation... he might still be using Q's name."
DanteE: "Oh, wait...
Theresa: "But this Querian wasn't even involved."
DanteE: "... two different Excrucians."
DanteE: "OK, the cult guy has attacked Brian and James... and his shard used Ice magic."
Random_Nerd: (First Excrucian. Deceiver. Using a Second Skin with some sort of cold-related Domain.)
Random_Nerd: (Attacked Numbers with a Flower Rite.)

• DanteE listens for Domains Involving Ice
  

Random_Nerd: (You also, with some divinatory miracles, found signs of what seemed like Worldbreaker's Hand being used to create tools for torturing the giant.)
Random_Nerd: (That would imply a Strategist, or possibly Lord Entropy.)
Random_Nerd: There are domains of Winter, Freezing, and Death By Hypothermia.
Random_Nerd: (Also, Weather, Temperature, and various other less connected ones.)
Theresa: (Well, if it's Entropy, we're screwed anyhow.)
Random_Nerd: (Incidentially, no Domain of Water, although there is a Domain of the Ocean.)
DanteE: (Ding!) "Almost forgot ... we have his Shard here!"
Random_Nerd: (...you do?)
DanteE: (Ick)

• Theresa blinks. "We do? We have a cultist..."
  

DanteE: "Ick"
Random_Nerd: (And there's a Bane that was made by actions involving a Strategist, but he's not a shard either.)
Theresa: "I'm not sure how much of Ick is leftover shardness. And plus, Ick doesn't really talk."
DanteE: "He doesn't have to."
Random_Nerd: (True, though, there is at least a bit of shard-body in him.)
Random_Nerd: (Good memory, I'd forgotten that.)
Theresa: "So we use the shardbodybit to dowse for the rest of the Excrucian?"
DanteE: (We can use a GRD...)
Random_Nerd: (GRD?)
DanteE: "You want to face an Excrucian?"
DanteE: (Greater Realm Divination)
Theresa: "No, but if the shard is dead, then what will the dead body lead us to?"
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. That would work, since the shard body wouldn't have anchorlike immunity to direct miracles any more.)
Random_Nerd: (Let's see, depending on what you're trying to find out, it could be tainted, because we know that being part of Ick has an effect even if someone's immediately removed from it. But, yeah, miracles would work pefectly well on the bits of shard that are left.)
DanteE: (Hm... could we get the name of his ex boss?)
Theresa: (Cool idea, Knock!)
DanteE: (OK, let's figure out just what we want from this GRD...)
DanteE: (Remind me: do cults have a direct connection to an Ex, or is it through a Shard?)
Random_Nerd: (Let's see, you'd probably need Penetration to see things that the corpsebits were up to in the past inside an Auctoritas, which it would be. Let's see, I think that Shard had... Spirit 2? Something low, 1 or 2.)
Random_Nerd: (Cults will almost never have direct contact with a full Excrucian.)
Random_Nerd: (Full Excrucians only come across on really important business, and a meet-and-greet with humans usually isn't on the agenda.)
DanteE: (So, can we break the Cult's connection if we eliminate that Shard?)
Random_Nerd: (Well, you already eliminated him. He's an ex-Shard. He has ceased to be.)
DanteE: (Not _that_ shard... the Cult's connection)
DanteE: (IF the cult's still screwing with us he's still around)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. No, it wouldn't directly revert them. But it would make it so that shard couldn't direct or corrupt the cult any more.)
Random_Nerd: (And if the Excrucian sent another, and you whacked it too, it would probably decide to stop sending Shards sooner or later, since losing them hurts.)
DanteE: "Do Excrucians and Shards have a structure similar to Imperators and Nobles?)
DanteE: "
Theresa: (But it would be very hard, even with the shard gone, to revert the cult to normal?)
DanteE: (Not if the Cult sees what happens to the Shard)
Theresa: "If I understand it, yes. Excrucians are like Imperators, sticking to the Spirit World and if they came to our world, everyone would freak out. But Shards are like us and can have anchors and so forth."
Random_Nerd: (It wouldn't magically fix everything, but it'd give you much more free rein at dealing with the cult than you'd have if their handler was still around.)
Random_Nerd: (And, further, it'd mean that there wasn't anyone around to implant miracles in cultists to use against you.)
DanteE: "I was thinking... we in Familia Kudzu all know one another. I wonder if the Shards of Whatshisface know each other."
Random_Nerd: (They'd know each other better, really. Shards, unlike Nobles, don't have a part of them that /isn't/ their boss.)
Random_Nerd: (So, they know each other in the same way that your liver knows your elbow.)
Theresa: "Wouldn't be surprised. Even if they weren't all around each other at times like we are."
Theresa: (Please do not make my fibroid into a Shard, dear...)
DanteE: "So, a Divination on Ick might just reveal who we're up against...
Theresa: "WOuld have to be careful about all of the other people he's got in him."
Random_Nerd: (And keep the cultists away from Ick while you're doing it.)
DanteE: (Ick's in the Chancel and the Cultists aren't)
DanteE: "I think we can narrow him down to the non-bones...
DanteE: "Or, better yet, the head with the sword-hole in the back.'
Theresa: "He's got bees too."
Theresa: (Shall we cut here to Ick? I'm sure that we can find him easily enough.  :) )
DanteE: "Yeah, bees in spheres. Basically, the only part with flesh would be the shard."
Theresa: "Couldn't help it that the mathematicians melted..."
DanteE: (We can ask Lesson to bring him to the Diplomacy Grove)
Random_Nerd: (Cut to you guys, Ick, and Lesson at the Diplomacy Grove?)
DanteE: (Sure. Say, is the Giant still with us?)
Theresa: (Sounds good.)
Random_Nerd: (The Giant is off with, you know. Horses.)
DanteE: (/me puts a baaaad image out of his mind... :) )
Random_Nerd: (Eh, I don't see the point in working out how he's being watched, so until we do, he's just in storage.)
Random_Nerd: Lesson gestures at Ick, who stops moving in the middle of the Grove.
Random_Nerd: "Brought it over, like you asked."
DanteE: (Helps a little that I've got HBO's Carlin tribute going in the background... :) )
Random_Nerd: "Not sure what is for. Is really only good for frightening humans, violence, heavy lifting."
DanteE: "Is there a brain in there at all?"
Random_Nerd: "Not sure. Haven't carved it up to check. Don't know how Boss Kudzu made it work, so don't intefere."
Random_Nerd: Ick just stands there.
Random_Nerd: L: "But can understand simple orders and follow them. Seems to obey you, then me, then humans or former humans that I've told it to obey."
DanteE: "
DanteE: "Did we ever tell you where it came from?"
Random_Nerd: "Think so. Big Boss made it out of corpses and things, whatever was close to hand?"
DanteE: "Special corpses, actually. The wood spheres have bees...
Random_Nerd: "And adds more corpses if is around them and isn't stopped. So far, haven't let it put any in."
DanteE: "The bones are, um, constructs... we hope...
DanteE: "and the bit in the middle was a Shard."
Random_Nerd: "Didn't know that. Dead?"
DanteE: (Didn't we pull off all the potential added corpses?)
Theresa: "As much as we could make sure of it. Sword through its head."
DanteE: "Very."

• DanteE takes a moment to assess which bit's which...
  

Theresa: (We took the big bits but not the random arms or legs.)
Random_Nerd: (Now, it's a bit hard to see, since all the bits of stuff flow into each other like a tumor with an undefined border. But you can find at least some bits that are unambiguously Shard.)
DanteE: (OK, what are the points needed for a GRD +2Pen?)
Theresa: "I think I can see something personish in there..."
Random_Nerd: (Let me see... miracle of level 7. What's your Realm?)
DanteE: "If it's person-ish, it's _not_ it."
DanteE: (1)
Random_Nerd: (Then it's eight RMPs.)
Random_Nerd: (Oh, wait, we agreed that pen didn't use the Powers of Two law.)
DanteE: (Can I use 4 Realm points +2 Spirit points?)
Random_Nerd: (So, six RMPS.)
Random_Nerd: (Spirit MPs still can't be used for pen.)
Random_Nerd: (They're for miracles done through Anchors.)
DanteE: (OK, I'll need to borrow a DMP)
Theresa: "The shard looked like a person. At least in shape."
DanteE: (Er, a ... uh ... the ones we're collecting in Amyra...)
Random_Nerd: (Dynasty point?)
DanteE: (That's it. Been a while...)
DanteE: "OK, let's see...

• DanteE flicks a POV image into existence behind him with a Ghost Miracle...
  

Random_Nerd: (Okay, with that, you can do a Greater Div with enough pen to see things it did in the past. You can't read its mind back when it was alive, but actions, words, and so on can be looked into.)
DanteE: "I'll try and feed the divination to you guys via the bulletin board

• DanteE grabs a part of the ex-Shard
  
• DanteE tries a Divination of his past, emphasis on his Shard-family
  

DanteE: (All yours RN)
Random_Nerd: (Okay, you can go broad, or deep. General impressions, or specific details on some particular area of the past?)
DanteE: (Hm... I'd like to know his ex-boss' current shards...
DanteE: (Theresa, what do you think?)
Random_Nerd: (You can't see the current shards by divining this one, but you can see what this one previously did.)
DanteE: (Ah, but the CUlt thing was going on when he attacked Numbers. :) )
Random_Nerd: (Yep. So, you want to focus on his interactions with the cult?)
DanteE: (So, if we get his family, we should spot the cult leader)
Theresa: (I think yeah, the intereactions with the cult and possibly family, if he even knows them.)
DanteE: (If we go 'deep' right around when he was attacking NUmbers we should get everything we need)
Random_Nerd: (Okay, let's see.)
DanteE: (Actually... unless you suddenly turned into a Pixelbitch, we shouldn't need to be too specific, ne? :) )
Random_Nerd: (First, you can tell that he's a shard of a Deceiver with the byname of Cimbri. Second, he's a fairly short-lived one, since he was still oven-fresh when he was tossed across the Wall to start messing with you.)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah, I just wanted to know what you were focusing on.)
DanteE: (Does that mean if we poke him he'll giggle? :) )
Random_Nerd: (When he got here, his first action was to get a useful Second Skin, as without one he'd be pretty weak. So, he spied on the Power of Freezing and mimicked him.)
Random_Nerd: (Next, he went to interfere with you. He seems to have gone pretty much straight to the town where you found him, as it had the two needed components, an active branch of the cult, and a college with a math department worth speaking of.)
Random_Nerd: (He clearly knew that the cult was there, and he went and got the most active members of it, the "feral mathematicians" you guys saw. Unlike the ones you encountered later, they knew broadly speaking who he was, and seemed prepared to take orders from him.)
Random_Nerd: (Also, unlike most that you saw, they had low-grade supernatural powers.)
DanteE: (uhoh)
Random_Nerd: (Following the recruitment of the most useful cult members, he anchored a member of the janitorial staff, and set to work influencing Jim towards his dangerous theory.)
DanteE: (The cleaning lady we ran into, I presume?)
Random_Nerd: (And that's about when you guys came in.)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah, that was her.)
Random_Nerd: (Any other details you'd be looking for?0
DanteE: (Who's running the Cult?)
DanteE: (Kinda the /point/ of this thing? :/ )
Random_Nerd: (It seems like the cult was planted here some time ago, with the intent to use it in a scheme like this. It's highly probable that the Deceiver had something to do with it, since the ones he took instantly deferred to the shard once he showed himself, without the need for persuasive miracles.)
Random_Nerd: (But it doesn't seem that this shard was involved in setting it up.)
Random_Nerd: (Also, it implies that any other nests of the cult will likely be more dangerous than this one was when you came there this time, since here, all the most devoted and powerful members had previously been killed in a confrontation with you.)
Theresa: (So it's qyuite probable that ..yeah, that was kinda what I was thinking. Their most powerful were melted already. )
DanteE: (Still need to find the Shard-link, though...)
Theresa: (So, we know that it was a Deceiver, that they had probably taken over the cult a long time ago and that it will probably leave this part of the cult alone if we smack down shards enough.)
Random_Nerd: (Oh, and when the Excrucian talked to the cultists, he mentioned Lord Cimbri, his parent Imperator, and another individual who he referred to as "King Sueridus.")
DanteE: (Yeah, but they'll still be there screwing with us until we get rid of the link)
DanteE: (If I run the clock back to when he was made, then presumably briefed on the mission...)
Random_Nerd: (When you try to run the clock back to before he arrived in Creation, it doesn't work.()
DanteE: (Can we get an image of His Lowness Sueridus?)
Random_Nerd: (And when he was in Creation, he seemed to have only a general idea of what to do, rather than detailed instructions.)
Random_Nerd: (He does not seem to have actually met Sueridus at any point, but the feral mathematicians seemed to recognize the name.)
Random_Nerd: (Also, he himself seemed to regard him as either a superior or a respected peer, from tone.)
DanteE: (Best guess says Shard)
DanteE: (old one, too)
Theresa: (Well, from the Flowers stuff, it could just be a ranked person on the Other Side.)
Random_Nerd: (So, mind if we stop here?)
DanteE: (One question:
DanteE: (How did he get in touch with the cult?)
Random_Nerd: (He drove here, in a car. He clearly knew where to find them, although it was in a different run-down building, rather than the factory you went to.)
DanteE: (Can we locate that building?)
Random_Nerd: (You can.)
DanteE: (OK... next step is to get William and Samuel involved to look up those names and possibly warn Freezing)
DanteE: (Then we hit that building... next week. :) )
Theresa: (Hmm..do shards of the same family tend to use the same Skins?)
Random_Nerd: (Sometimes. There isn't really a hard-and-fast rule.)
Random_Nerd: (Okay, let's stop here.)
Random_Nerd: _______________STOP__________________
Random_Nerd: Thoughts?

• • • DanteE is now known as Knockwood.
      

Knockwood: This is a session we'll definitely be referring back to... hope you got a log. :)
Theresa: I like that we're moving again. I wasn't sure what to head for but this has been a great idea, Knock!
Theresa: Always do.  :)
Knockwood: RN, did you really forget about Ick? :)
Random_Nerd: Well, I knew he existed.
Knockwood: or 'Charnelman'?
Random_Nerd: But I'd forgotten that he contained bits of a shard until you thought of it.
Knockwood: where were his other random parts from, tho? I thought he just had cop parts, which we pulled out...
Random_Nerd: Well, Lesson implied that he's tried to accumulate more bits, but has been dissuaded.
Knockwood: ... heh ...
Random_Nerd: Plus, there are the corpses and the bees and the messy cotton and so on.
Knockwood: (We should be barfing our guts out, really... )
Random_Nerd: (You both have reasonably high aspect!)
Random_Nerd: (Besides, he doesn't smell quite as ripe as he used to.)
Knockwood: ... good to know ...
Random_Nerd: Volatiles only last so long.
Theresa: He's probably going jerky-ish.
Random_Nerd: And he's dried out some.
Random_Nerd: Yeah.
Random_Nerd: But I wouldn't stand near him if he gets wet.
Knockwood: then again, there's no guarantee he was flesh in the first place
Theresa: He's just..stuff. That was in Dante's car's trunk.
Knockwood: I wondered where my jumper cables went!

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 11