Session 117

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Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 13

Random_Nerd: Let's see. Anything you guys wanted to go over before we start?
Harold: I'm good.

      • Angelo has joined #nobilis.

Angelo: Hi All! :-)
Harold: (And like the Cylons, I have a plan :p )
Harold: Hey!
BethE: You have a plan? Cool!
Random_Nerd: Ah, gotta love a good Plan.
Harold: Not sure it's good yet...
Angelo: @Harold: you are a cylon?
Harold: Like the Cylon plan...
Harold: Not yet.
Knockwood: You have a cunning plan?
Random_Nerd: Why bother figuring out if a plan is good ahead of time?
Random_Nerd: Just put it in action!
Harold: That was my plan for the Plan.
Harold: But I'll consult my fellow Nobles first.
Random_Nerd: And the Power of Recusion?
Random_Nerd: (Recursion, even.)
Knockwood: Recusion also works... "I disavow all knowledge of that ridiculous plan!"
Random_Nerd: Heh.
Random_Nerd: So, shall we start?

      • You are now known as Theresa.
      • Angelo has changed the topic on channel #nobilis to Beware! Noble at work!.
      • Harold is now known as Herb.

Random_Nerd: So, when we last left you, you were outside the newly constructed building, and Lesson was trying to explain what he thought about how the people from Hell would think.

      • Knockwood is now known as DanteE.

Theresa: And Herb had created Jeeves-spyware.
Random_Nerd: Shall we start there, or elsewhere?
Herb: There or back in the conference room is fine with me.
Theresa: Either works for me.
DanteE: Either way...
Random_Nerd: Conference room, then. Which of your assorted flunkies and minions will you have brought, if any?
Herb: I'm alone. Frances is in her office nearby.
DanteE: Right. Flunkies over there, minions over there, and get this one hanger-on off my leg.
Theresa: I have no minions yet.
Theresa: But the Aides can be along.
Random_Nerd: But where are the clowns and jokers positioned relative to you, Dante?
DanteE: In their usual places, song's been around for 30+ years, they should know by now.
Herb: Of course, I seem alone, but my ninja is lurking in the shadows. I've asked the others to pretend they don't see him, to bolster his self-confidence.
Random_Nerd: Okay, then, Aides at the table with you, Frances nearby, Lesson scaring his intern, ninja lurking. Let's go.
Random_Nerd: ________________START_________
Herb: "I have a suggestion."

  • Theresa makes a note on her notepad to make sure Lesson's intern gets some Noble-talk-time with at least someone. Side note - not Snow.

DanteE: (Why not? Might be fun!)
Theresa: (We want to keep her around for long enough to help Lesson. Too much time between Lesson and Snow and the poor intern will jump off into the abyss.)
Herb: "My first choice would have been to send the evil king and Bathory back to their Fate: death and Hell. But since it's not a viable option, I thought of an alternative on our way back."
Random_Nerd: William, seeming stressed, absent-mindedly does the "Hmm, has my hairline moved when I wasn't watching? It hasn't? Good. Gooooooood hairline." gesture.
Herb: "I don't know about you, but I hate this dread king and what he represents. We need to have some control over him and the other one. I suggest we Anchor the both of them."
Random_Nerd: Sam twitches abruptly.
Theresa: "Bwa-now?"
Random_Nerd: Sam: "Isn't that how you ended up with the demon? The big one, I mean, not the new one?"
Herb: "Yes, and he turned out very well."
Random_Nerd: (Sorry, ambiguous. Lesson isn't here in the room, just in the clock tower.)
Random_Nerd: (Unless you want him to be.)
DanteE: (Anchoring resets their goals and aspirations to your Domain, ne?)
Herb: (Yup :) )
Random_Nerd: Sam: "Didn't he kill a dozen cops with a pair of hedge clippers?"
Theresa: "They got better."
Random_Nerd: William: "Not a /dozen/."
Random_Nerd: Sam: "But still!"
Herb: "And I'm sure we've learned from our experience."
Random_Nerd: (It doesn't entirely remove their old goals. But it imposes new ones with respect to your domain, chancel, and Code.)
DanteE: "Hm... we may not need to go that far"
DanteE: "They are in our domain, and not under any protection I could see. We could just 'edit' them a bit."
Herb: "What do you suggest instead? I'm not sure the Centre will be enough for the two of them."
Herb: "And what about the Code of our Imperator?"
Herb: "Doesn't it conflicts with the idea of "editing" them?"
DanteE: "Good question."

  • Theresa ponders how her own Gift could be a form of editting...

DanteE: "Most of codes go against just killing them, I think."
Random_Nerd: William: "I'm not sure I'm comfortable being here while you discuss this."
DanteE: *our codes
DanteE: "Why not? We've talked about everything else..."
Random_Nerd: William: "Just... editing people to be better people."
DanteE: "That's sort of the point of psychotherapy. Or Prozac, for that matter."
Random_Nerd: William: "But this even goes beyond coercive force."
Herb: "I'm not really in favor of straight out editing them. Either we stick them permanently in a "Centre" - but more of a comfortable dungeon - or we do the other thing: offer them freedom in exchange of their service as Anchors."
DanteE: "A dungeon would go against our Imperator."
Random_Nerd: William: "Removing someone's appendix, through careful surgery, may be perfectly acceptable in medicine. But what about running up to some random guy and teleporting his appendix out, even if he'd be better off that way?"
Herb: "There's also the possibility of trading them away to a more... hospitable... Chancel. One more oriented towards Hell and the Dark."
Theresa: "Where they would be what? Servants?"
DanteE: "More likely fodder."
Herb: "Whatever. Once they're out of here, they're no longer our responsibility."
Random_Nerd: Samuel: "I don't think the Dark would be any less bewildered by them than you are. They'd probably just leave a bunch of cyanide lying around and hope the problem solves itself."
Random_Nerd: Sam: "And... what'shisname... Migrations, probably wouldn't even accept that."
Theresa: "So, what do we have...if they die, they probably go back to Hell since very few of them are redeemable. If they stay alive, they continue on with the habits that made them end up there."
DanteE: "That's the key...
DanteE: "We grabbed them because we figured we could get them _out_ of Hell, for good."
Random_Nerd: The Ninja, whispering to Herb: "Shall I kill the red-haired one for disrespecting your glorious plan?"

  • Theresa eyeballs said-ninja. But in an Aspect way so I do not insult his ninja ways.
  • Herb whispers: "Not yet my faithful servant, not yet." Winks at the others.

Theresa: "I've always been a sucker for strays."
Random_Nerd: Ninja bows.
Theresa: "I just can't keep them in a box in my classroom and let someone take a hell-soul home at the end of the year."
DanteE: "So, the question is, is manipulating them enough to keep them out of Hell acceptable?"
Random_Nerd: (Oh, and Dante, where did you leave your little brimstony pet?)
DanteE: (Knowing him, he's humping my leg...)
Herb: "My priority is the well-being of the inhabitants of the Chancel. I don't consider those refugees from death and Hell as such."
Herb: (Are there prisons in Amyra?)
Random_Nerd: (Presumably.)
Theresa: (Yes, there has to be. We probably don't have the death penalty, though.)
Random_Nerd: (You haven't actively changed the criminal justice system.)
DanteE: (With the additional complication that out Ymera keeps popping open the cell doors for funsies)
Herb: (He does?!)
Theresa: "So as we haven't closed down the prisons, that leaves the opportunity for certain restrictions. Unless the Boss has pulled another jailbreak again." (Darn it, Dante...  ;P )
DanteE: (Just a guess)
Random_Nerd: (He might! You haven't checked.)
Herb: "My position is that they should be restricted indefinitely to the Centre until and unless we have VERY good reasons to release them into the Chancel's population. If they commit any crime while in the Centre, they should be transfered to one of our prisons."
Theresa: "Wonder if they would be willing to be traded to another chancel. The thing is...they were in Hell. They wouldn't want to go to another Hell-chancel because that's no better than before. Except now they've had steak."
Theresa: "How big is the Centre inside? Is it one of those bigger inside than out places, like the room downstairs?"
DanteE: "What was John's reaction, by the way? Or the artifacts, for that matter?"
Theresa: "I don't know about the artifacts. But John has triple-bolted the palace and is the most nervous I've ever seen him."
Herb: "Regular geometry for the moment."
DanteE: "Let's analyze this...
DanteE: "Aaron and Bathory... probably irredeemable.
DanteE: "Handsome guy and Sorry-girl... probably redeemable."
DanteE: "Five in the middle."
Random_Nerd: Samuel: "Are the two boss humans any worse than the demon was?"
Random_Nerd: The little demon looks up from Dante's laces, decides Sam wasn't talking about him, and then sits back down.
DanteE: "Well...

  • DanteE puts his ankle with the demon attached on the table.

Random_Nerd: Sam: "Not that one."
DanteE: "What do you think of this guy's leadership abilities?"
DanteE: "Lesson's weren't much better when we were introduced."
Theresa: (I think Dante should stick to loafers...drive the little guy nuts.)
DanteE: "We boosted him even before he was anchored."
Theresa: "Dante, we were introduced to Lesson by ripping his heart out and putting a radish in instead."
DanteE: "Which, compared to the fun and games of hell, was a vacation."
Herb: "A simple miraculous organ transplant."
Random_Nerd: Sam: "Thursdays are Radish Day!"
DanteE: "We at least had anesthetic."

  • DanteE looks at Sam...

Theresa: "But that doesn't take a look at leadership skills. We couldn't tell if Lesson would be willing to work with the Chancel in such a way that he wasn't trying to take over the place within the week."
Random_Nerd: Sam: "...well, thursdays /could/ be radish day..."
DanteE: "It's a question of how much his personality was changed by us. Including James..."

  • Herb listens to what's going on, but takes a look at what's going on at the Centre on the screens installed for that purpose.

DanteE: "But... I'd be inclined to put old-Lesson on the low end of the scale. Aaron is another story.
Herb: "We won't know if it could work again unless we try."
DanteE: "We know he'd want to take over because he actually did."
Theresa: "I can put a radish inside Aaron. I've been working on a particular breed of daikon that resists cholesterol..."
Herb: "But if he's my Anchor for example, he'll have the well-being of the inhabitants at heart."
Random_Nerd: In the Centre, the two leaders are sitting back and relaxing. Their crews are basically searching the place for anything that could be used to make weapons or barricades. The unaffiliated ones are nervously sitting in rooms with more than one exit.
Theresa: (Hmm...would a Realm Div give more info on Aaron? Or the library?)
Random_Nerd: (Depends what kind of information.)
DanteE: "Herb... he might consider putting himself in charge a necessary component of improving the place."
Theresa: (Well, like if he took over the country via war, killed off relatives, and so forth. How bloody was his reign.)
Herb: "If he becomes a problem, I can simply unanchor him."
Random_Nerd: (A lesser div would not show the past.)
Herb: (A major one would?)
Random_Nerd: (At least specific parts of it.)
Random_Nerd: (So, you could get particular scenes in great detail, or a general overview.)
Herb: "Do you want me to do a Major Divination to know more about Aaron's past?"
DanteE: (Where's miss 'Bathory' from?)
Random_Nerd: (Spain, as it happens.)
DanteE: "I mainly want to know how much he can manipulate things.
Theresa: "And from the way John's acting, there's probably an issue with the Treasures."
Herb: "So, a general overview of his past, especially the later parts, would be a good idea?"
Theresa: "Yes, please. Should I make popcorn?"
DanteE: "Hold on...
DanteE: "William, Samuel, I think I asked you two to get the history books' word on Aaron. What did you find?"
Random_Nerd: William: "Two basic sorts of book about him."
Random_Nerd: William: "Either he was a loving and virtuous leader with love and consideration for all his subjects, while treating his treacherous enemies with kindness and mercy..."
Random_Nerd: Samuel: "Or he ate babies with kitten-sauce, seduced all his siblings, and flipped off a baby bird who had lost its nest."
Theresa: (You forgot grandmother-pushing.)
DanteE: "Charming. How did he die?"
Random_Nerd: William: "Depending if you listen to what was written during his reign, or during the reign of his nephew, who hated him."
Random_Nerd: Samuel: "That much is unclear. Either he had a bad stroke, was poisoned, or both."
Herb: "I think that Divination would be a plus."
Herb: (If RN feels like doing a lot of narration!)
DanteE: "Come to think of it... did he ever lose a battle?"
Random_Nerd: (I will condense as much as is reasonable.)
Random_Nerd: William: "Several battles, but no wars. And he was the 'lead from the battlefield' kind of king. He may have even brought out the Treasures to the battlefield on one or two occasions, if you believe some accounts."
DanteE: "Considering we have the 'Spear of Destiny' in our vault, that's ... interesting."
Theresa: "Well, if the Treasures had killed him, we would have heard about it."
DanteE: "Would we? The treasures sit in their vault except for very special occasions...
DanteE: "For all we know the Spear may be taking people out right and left."
Theresa: "Well, I think the history books would have at least a sentence dedicated to 'And yea, verily, that lightning bolt didst struck him out of a clear sky and the Ark grew most happy with a chuckling sound and the rubbing of invisible hands.'"
Random_Nerd: William: "Well, some did attribute his stroke, if that's what it was, to divine intervention."
Herb: "Im going to find out is no one minds."
DanteE: "Think you can put what you see on the screen for the rest of us?"
Herb: "With pleasure. I'll record it and, when I get the time, write a definitive history of his reign."

  • Herb connects himself to the screen and concentrates on the Chancel, on his past and on the destiny of a single individual now confined to the white walls of the Centre. Major Divination of King Aaron, with a focus on the later part of his life.

Random_Nerd: (So, what sort of thing, exactly, are you looking for?)
DanteE: (Whatever you intend to screw us with. :D )
Herb: A general overview of the last few episodes of his life, with a particular interest for his character as exemplified by his behavior with his subjects and, in battle, with his enemies. I'd also like to see, in details, his demise (if it's not asking too much).
Herb: (And what Dante said!)
Random_Nerd: (It's not like I'll have his eighteenth bastard spawn jump out of the shadows, stab you, and shout "That's for what you did to my daddy!")
Theresa: (Nineteenth.)
Random_Nerd: He died at what would have been a young age for humans in general, but an old age for unpopular kings. It was indeed a stroke, and if there was miraculous intervention in it, no traces of that remain.
Random_Nerd: In battle, he would generally have his primary enemies killed in inventive ways if he got his hands on then while they were alive. As for the footsoldiers that fought against him, they'd mostly be put to manual labor for the rest of their lives unless ransomed.
Random_Nerd: Oh, and any of them who had tried to kill him, personally, had their thumbs and achilles' tendons confiscated.
Random_Nerd: Let's see...
Random_Nerd: He did indeed lead his battles in person, and while he did have a skilled bodyguard and some really good armor, he did get hurt from time to time. Not all of his scars are from Hell.
Random_Nerd: As for his subjects, if they liked him or were good at faking it, he didn't mess with them much. If they spoke against him, they'd be thrown in a dungeon and not let out during his reign, or they'd have an example made of them if they actually had followers.
DanteE: (SOP for kings, really)
Random_Nerd: He didn't actually seduce either of his sisters, but they did get locked away in pleasant quarters that they couldn't leave, and where they never saw anyone who had a Y chromosome unless it was him. He'd probably have had his younger brother killed if he hadn't died in a hunting accident, and it was said brother's son that succeeded Aaron.
Random_Nerd: Anything else to look for?
DanteE: (The link between him & the Artifacts, and/or the line from him to John)
Herb: (Yep.)
Herb: (Did he use them in battle?)
Random_Nerd: Anything he did with respect to the artifacts, you can't see, since they have an Auctoritas and you didn't use penetration. But he did bring them out on two occasions for a fight, and otherwise seems to have gone to ritually appease them according to the usual calendar.
Random_Nerd: They didn't disgorge any plagues during his reign, or stab him, or anything like that.
Random_Nerd: As for John, he's descended from the son who ruled, in a mostly direct line broken up by a few nephews inheriting when the king didn't have a son who survived both his death and any succession struggles.
DanteE: (Actually... about when was Aaron's rule?)
Random_Nerd: (Let
Random_Nerd: 's see... I don't have a specific date worked out, but let's say that it was after the famous Prester John, but only about a third of the way from him to you.)
Random_Nerd: (So, let's say, 1350 or so, give or take about 50 years.)
DanteE: (Anyone else think of something we can divine?)
Random_Nerd: (So, roughly parallel with the Black Death, which didn't make it all the way to Amyra.)
DanteE: (Oh... was he involved in his younger brother's death at all?)
Random_Nerd: (No. But only because he died by accident before Aaron could get around to it.)
Random_Nerd: (Oh, and Aaron had no sons or daughters, and may have been sterile.)
DanteE: "So, not as bad as his rep. Which isn't saying much."
Herb: "He's bad enough."
Herb: (All done with the Div?)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah.)

  • Herb uses the remote to close the screens, or at least turns the Divination off.
  • DanteE checks in with the Devilish 9...

Herb: "So, there you have it. He's a EEEE-VIL king."
Theresa: "Does John still have a food taster?"
Random_Nerd: (Yes, but it's mostly just a ritual post. Inherited in a specific family, brought out on ceremonial occasions sometimes, but doesn't taste every single meal he eats.)
DanteE: (He will now)
DanteE: (What are the D9 doing?)
Herb: "So, indefinite detention for our guests of honor?"
Random_Nerd: (Same sort of things, although they seem to have given up on making weapons. Still, they're keeping an eye out for any spare change or glass bottles that get left in there.)
Random_Nerd: (The unaffiliated ones seem to have worked out a mutual backwatching system.)
Theresa: "I think that sounds good for right now. We should work on the redeemable ones, at least."
Herb: "I'd isolate the redeemable ones from the rest then. Perhaps leave them in the Centre for rehabilitation while we stick the other one in prison?"
DanteE: "Hold on...
DanteE: (Warning! Wacky idea coming! Brace yourselves! Everyone in the room is inured to seeing Miracles, right?)
Herb: (I'm ready and so is my ninja.)
Random_Nerd: (In some way or another. Although if you pull a flaming dragon out of your butt, it may give Sam and William pause.)
DanteE: "You know... we're so worried about what would happen if he got hold of the Artifacts...
DanteE: (Aw, nuts! OK, plan B...)
DanteE: "...let's give one to him.

  • DanteE pauses for effect...

Herb: *stunned silence*
Random_Nerd: William: "I... think I have a pressing comittment elsewhere. /Very/ elsewhere."

  • DanteE Creates a perfect replica of The Spear out of thin air.

DanteE: "Not the _real_ one, of course. I'm not that nuts."
Theresa: "But he's been the King, Dante. I think he'd be able to tell a fake."
DanteE: "Well, that depends.
DanteE: "He's been in Hell for 7 centuries, and wasn't all that good when here.
Herb: "Intriguing. We'd have to organize some sort of fake escape and make sure he gets his hands on the fake spear."
Herb: "And after that?"
DanteE: "I think we only saw the Spear animate because it was facing an Ultimate Evil, powered by the prayer of a good man, in a world gone crazy anyway."
DanteE: "Think simpler, Herb. Theresa, you remember the sheath it was in?"

  • DanteE throws a Ghost-Courage on the spear.

Theresa: "It was leather, right? I can't do cows."
DanteE: (Wasn't it cloth?)
Random_Nerd: Samuel, in the back, doing a pretty decent imitation: "IN A WORLD WHERE TRADITION IS KING, ONE MAN WILL APPEASE THE RELICS..."
Random_Nerd: (Leather, smooth, I think.)
Herb: "Well, I can." (Lesser Creation of sheath.)
Theresa: "I hear they're looking for a new Movie Guy, Sam..."
Herb: "Did it look like that?"
DanteE: (Have you seen the sheath?)
Theresa: (If he's a native, he's seen the fakes in the museum and gift shop."
Theresa: )
Herb: (Would a Lesser Div allow me to see the fake sheath?)
DanteE: (And I guess you know Voiceover Guy passed away recently)
Random_Nerd: (Not without Penetration. But John could describe it to you in great detail, and there are artworks based more or less accurately on it in the palace.)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah, Dan Lafontaine, or however it was spelled.)
DanteE: What's Aaron doing now?
Random_Nerd: (Sitting and plotting.)
DanteE: "Follow me."
Theresa: (To everyone?)

  • DanteE takes the fake spear to where the 9 are holed up."

DanteE: (Whoever wants to see the MADNESS! :) )

  • Herb follows carefully, followed by his shadow of death.
  • Theresa follows.

Theresa: "Will, Sam, our wills and the Chancel insurance are ready, right?"
Random_Nerd: William: "I'm just glad it isn't the real one."
DanteE: (OK, what's their reaction when we walk in?)
Random_Nerd: (Let's see. Are you going straight to the room that Aaron and his people are in?)
DanteE: (Yep.)
Random_Nerd: As you step in, the Minions Without Speaking Parts back up abruptly, glancing between you and Aaron. Aaron sits on the ground with his back to the wall, and adjusts his seat as you come in, and then blinks at what you're holding.
Theresa: (*thinks of a Rule 0*)
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Is that really what I think it is?"
DanteE: "Aaron... do you know who and what we are?"
Random_Nerd: Aaron, to Dante: "Who are your people? Who are you descended from?"
DanteE: "Rogues and peasant slaves."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "And your clothing. What fibers is it made from, and how is it dyed?"

  • Theresa gets a bad feeling that we've been punked.

DanteE: "You'd have to ask the kids in ... ah ... Bangladesh. (Bangladesh?) Ahem. Answer me now."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "You're Nobles. Powers. Dominii."
Random_Nerd: One of the minions whispers to him.
DanteE: whispers what?
Random_Nerd: Aaron, speaking as if repeating a phonetically-memorized phrase: "Running-dog-lackies of the capitalist Imperators."
Random_Nerd: (Whispers that.)

  • DanteE looks at the whisperer...

DanteE: to Aaron: "And do you know what that _means?_
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "No. But it had a good sound to it."
DanteE: "The Noble part, not the runnoing-dog-lackey bit."
Theresa: "In Soviet Russia, Chancel eats _you_."
Herb: (That would fall under: "Accept no insult from beasts - and each child is a serpent ."?)
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "It means you boss me around, and boss demons around. And an Angel bosses you around."
Random_Nerd: (At least for the guy who did the whispering.)
Random_Nerd: (As for Aaron, probably unless Entropy likes him for some reason.)
Theresa: "Actually, our Boss is a giant mass of sanity-reducing plant and brick matter."

  • Herb moves out of the room and orders security to remove as swiftly as possible all of Aaron's lackeys from the room.

DanteE: to whisperer: "Your great conflict was decided 18 years ago. The west won. Russia is now a stumbling neophyte capitalist society."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Okay. Bricks and plants. But I still rather doubt that what you're holding is what it looks like. What's today's date?"
Random_Nerd: Whisperer gives a "Well of /course/ you'd say that. I'm in /Hell/, aren't I?" look to Dante.
DanteE: "Well, there is that...
DanteE: "It also means we have ... control. Of the world, and reality.
DanteE: "What do you think of that wooden chair you're sitting on? (hint, hint)"

  • Theresa tells Aaron today's date, as she understands that a) he is not an idiot and b) he spent years knowing when the treasures could be touched without death.

Random_Nerd: Aaron: "It is... not a wooden chair, or a chair of any kind."
Random_Nerd: Aaron looks a bit puzzled when Theresa says the date.
DanteE: "Yeah, it is."
DanteE: (Waiting on Theresa to give Aaron a Philip K. Dick moment here...)
Random_Nerd: (But she'd also have to... what, destroy a chunk of the ground he's sitting on, and make a big hole in the wall and floor? She can't do that.)
Theresa: "Yes. It's been that long. You're a many-time-great-uncle."
DanteE: (Or just create a chair under him)

  • Theresa LCreates a chair under the guy. (Sorry, was typing.)

Theresa: (Oh, you were going for Scanner Darkly?)
DanteE: "Now... we know who you are ... what you did ... what you would have done. For the most part.

  • DanteE reverently unwraps the spear

Random_Nerd: (So, is the chair embedded in the floor and wall?)
Theresa: (Oh, yeah, remove the chair. He's sitting on the ground with his back to the wall. Can't do a chair unless it's a paper chair.)
DanteE: "Tell me... did you ever see the Spear move?"
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Twice. And I'm not convinced that that's it."
DanteE: "Tell us about those times?"
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Why?"
DanteE: "Just for our amusement."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Who's keeping track of those, now? A relative, or a stranger like you?"
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "And... let's say I've never seen them move. I was lying."
DanteE: OK, Aspect lie-spotting. Was he lying then or now?
Random_Nerd: Now.
DanteE: "No, you've seen it move."
Random_Nerd: He shrugs.
Random_Nerd: "E pur si muove?"
DanteE: (is that Latin, or did your cat walk on the keyboard?)
Random_Nerd: (Latin, for "nevertheless, it moves. Reference to a probably apocryphal quote from Galileo. After Aaron's time.)
DanteE: "Galileo said that _after_ you died. They watch the world from down there?"
DanteE: "Next you'll tell me they have cable."
Theresa: "Some shows are probably forms of torture."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Someone said they'd proved that the Earth orbits the Sun. I asked about it. Still don't know where Hell is relative to Earth, though."

      • You have been disconnected. Thu Jan 15 22:55:39 2009.
      • Automatically rejoining channel...
      • Channel re-joined successfully.
      • Initial topic: Beware! Noble at work!
      • #nobilis: Theresa Angelo Random_Nerd DanteE @Herb
      • #nobilis was created on Thu Jan 15 20:05:34 2009.

DanteE: (WB. What happened?)
Random_Nerd: (Internet Demons.)
Theresa: (Don't know.)
Theresa: (Last I saw was the Earth orbits Sun line.)
Herb: (Excrucians on the move...)
DanteE: (Damn it, demons are only supposed to filter air molecules...)
Theresa: (We're already under Nettle Rites with all of the scheduling issues...)
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "I really don't see what you can do to me to make me afraid of you. I have been stabbed and shot at with arrows, and that was while I was alive. I was gored by a boar, once, when I was a young man. I spent quite a few years pinned to a wall with a big pole through my chest."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "You're going to have to do a lot more than just say vaguely ominous things if you want to frighten me."
Herb: "We can send you back to Hell."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "But you won't, I don't think."
Theresa: "We would like to know your intensions toward this land and its people."
DanteE: "Well, you'll probably go there anyway if you die."
Random_Nerd: (He's actually quite nervous, but putting on a decent show of being nervous and annoyed. It would fool a mundane human, almost certainly._
Random_Nerd: )
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Is there something that you want that I can provide? And what do you offer me in return?"
Theresa: "Well, we would like peace. No trying to take over the government or the monarchy, no causing the deaths of others except in self defense, the usual. Do you believe in fealty?"
DanteE: (OK, there's a few possibilities. We can use the spear to mess with the other Amyrans and their loyalty to Aaron. we can 'accidentally' leave it behind and see what he does with it. I can make the spear move. Or... hm. Ideas?)
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Take over the monarchy? Am I not still king by right of blood? I may be persuaded to resign in favor of my successor, but that's a separate issue."
DanteE: "Your reign ended with your death, I think."
Theresa: (There's only two other Amyrans. He doesn't believe it's real. He's dealt too much with the real thing to ever believe that anyone, even a Noble, could just waltz around with it.)
DanteE: (Oh, wait... were the other Amyrans in his clique?)
Random_Nerd: (Yes.)
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "My death? Clearly I am not dead."
DanteE: (Aha... that opens up a 4th possibility)
Theresa: (Hmm...that is a point. What are they now? Embodied souls?)
Random_Nerd: (That's what humans /are/.)
Theresa: (Uhh...differently bodied souls?)
DanteE: (Which opens up a disturbing possibility... this is an Earthly soul in a Hell-created body)
Random_Nerd: (For all practical purposes, they are currently mundane living human beings.)
Random_Nerd: (Their bodies were made in Hell, yes, but in imitation of their previous ones. And since they're human physiologically, they didn't have the sort of internalized physical corruption a demon would.)
Herb: (Sorry, I have to leave the keyboard for a little while. Little one just woke up and is not happy...)
Random_Nerd: (Sure.)
DanteE: "No, you died. In modern terms, you had a stroke. In your terms... hm ...
Theresa: "You suffered death. Your term in this realm ended. You ended up in Hell and your soul was given a new body."
Theresa: (Back then, it might have been 'elf-shot' perhaps? Or divine intervention.)
DanteE: (Does he still have a scar where that boar gored him?)
Random_Nerd: (Yes. It just winged him, which is why he lived as long as he did, but there's a nasty mark on the left side of his ribcage.)
DanteE: ...didn't that go away when I zap-healed him?
Random_Nerd: (He still has his scars. He just doesn't have any fresh or open wounds, and the wounds that he had at the time closed without scars.)
Random_Nerd: (But I don't believe it cured the ones that he's had for six or seven hundred years.)
Random_Nerd: (Did I say otherwise at the time?)
DanteE: (Don't think so.
Random_Nerd: (Oh, and we've really slowed down. So, shall we stop soon?)
DanteE: (And I'm not sure where to go from here, to be honest.)
Theresa: (I think a break is called for. My brain is outside in the cold, trying to escape...)
Random_Nerd: (Part of the thing is that, while Aaron is a really nasty person, he still has a quite excessive deal of courage as well.)
DanteE: (Oh, well, that's easily fixed!)
Random_Nerd: (It is!)
Theresa: (You should keep him.)
Random_Nerd: (Harvest time?)
DanteE: (Not yet. If he really pisses me off, though....)
Random_Nerd: (But as it stands, for all his other flaws, he is a very good example of your Estate.)
DanteE: (and this is really tricky to do without lying)
DanteE: (On the other hand.... after this, we should swing by the castle, and let John use this as a decoy.)
Theresa: (We have faith in you. And plus, wasn't implying that that is the real Spear lying?)
DanteE: (Haven't done that yet. I just haven't implied that it wasn't, either.)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah, he hasn't actually said it is. Just spoken as if it were.)
DanteE: (Now, is Aaron wavering on whether he believes it is?
Theresa: (I doubt it. He knows the rules.)
DanteE: (Yeah, but we're Noble, we can rewrite the rules.)
Random_Nerd: (Not really. He thinks there are more reasons to believe that it isn't. And he thinks it trumps you, metaphysically speaking.)
DanteE: (Ah... we need to impress that fact upon him.)
Theresa: (But..it does trump us, Dante. They have Auctoritases.)
DanteE: (He doesn't know that)
Random_Nerd: (Well, so do you.)
Theresa: (So they're kinda equals. But it would be like going around and ordering around someone else's Anchor.)
Random_Nerd: (Roughly, in game-mechanical terms, the holy relics are the equivalent of really narrowly focused Nobles, with a huge pile of limits and restrictions.)
Random_Nerd: (Probably more like one of the exotic creature types in Unlikely Flowerings, but I haven't read it in a while.)
DanteE: "Back then they were still following the teachings of Galen, right?"
Random_Nerd: (But in the same sense that the Tree could be said to be a really big, really powerful, but immobile Imperator, whose only estate was itself.)
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "I don't know, I'm not a doctor."
DanteE: "Hm. Well... we now know the brain is the seat of consciousness rather than the heart.
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Okay. So, what exactly happened to me, then?"
DanteE: "You had a blockage of a vessel that supplies blood to the brain. As a result, it died. As a result, you died."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Odd. A shame, for such a minor thing to do it. I always thought I'd go down on a battlefield, or stabbed or poisoned by some ambitious relative. It lacks appropriateness."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "This time, I shall strive to die in a more fitting manner."
DanteE: "Like you would have done to your brother?"
Herb: (I'm back, and I had time to read what had been going on. Interesting developments :) )
DanteE: (Yeah, all OOC except for that last bit)
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "And like I'm sure he'd have done to me, if he had the chance. Nothing personal."
DanteE: (Did what I say spook him at all?)
Random_Nerd: (Which part?)
DanteE: (the fact that I know what he was planning to do)
Random_Nerd: (He's somewhat unsettled thinking about how he died from such a tiny and random thing.)
Random_Nerd: (The stroke part has him more unsettled than the thing about his brother.)
Random_Nerd: (And that part doesn't shock him. The idea that a king with a tendency to go to lengths to protect himself from any possible rivals would potentially kill his brother is hardly novel.)

  • DanteE uses a ghost miracle of Blades to make the spear levitate

Random_Nerd: Aaron jerks back.
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Are you doing that, or is it?"
DanteE: "Does it matter?"
DanteE: the spear slowly moves to horizontal
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Spear, if you are the real one, I am a man who all my adult life kept your rituals and said the appropriate words at the right time. You have fallen into the hands of foreigners and of men who do not show the proper respect."

  • DanteE turns the spear toward him.

DanteE: (Not pointing at him yet, though...)
Random_Nerd: Aaron watches the spear carefully.
DanteE: "Considering what you did during your reign... and the fact that you wound up in hell... how do you think the spear really feels?"

  • DanteE Div-Courage on how he takes that...

Random_Nerd: Aaron: "I am a king, of the line of kings, and the nation did well under my lead. Even when other nations were struck with plagues, mine was not. As a king, rather than as a man, my conscience is clear."
Random_Nerd: He reaches over and tries to take the spear.
DanteE: (OK, now the sneaky part...)
DanteE: Ghost-Blades when he touches it so that it pokes his hand...
Random_Nerd: (As for the courage part, he's more calm now than he was then. He's on familiar ground, now.)
DanteE: followed by a ghost-LD-Courage on him
Random_Nerd: He looks at his hand, and at the blood flow.
DanteE: (Waiting on his reaction...)
Herb: (Situation with the little one is getting out of control. Sorry, I have to bail out for tonight :( )
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "No. This, I do not accept. Which way, from here, is the palace?"
Herb: (Looks like I won't get a lot of sleep tonight. Good evening to all of you! See you next week :) )
Theresa: (It's okay, Herb. Family comes first.  :) )
DanteE: "Stop."

      • Herb has signed off IRC (Disintegrated: Quitting!).
  • DanteE zap-heals his hand, and drops the ghost-LD-Courage

DanteE: "To me."

  • DanteE holds out his hand and guides the Spear into it."

Random_Nerd: When he sees the wound heal, he smiles, and stands up.
Random_Nerd: "Foreigners and barbarians always get the details wrong when they pretend to be civilized people."
Random_Nerd: Aaron: "Given that I had the holy grail and the spear of destiny /in my own house/, let's just pretend I'm familiar with the folklore about them."
Random_Nerd: He tries to walk out. Do you block his way?
DanteE: Yes.
Random_Nerd: (Shall we stop here?)
Theresa: (Yes, please.)
DanteE: (Sure...)
Random_Nerd: ____________STOP_____________
Random_Nerd: Thoughts?
Angelo: Nice!
Theresa: Wow, what a mess.  :)
Angelo: yes a mess but an interesting one.
Random_Nerd: And what he was referring to, at the end, was the whole "Dolourous blow" aspect of the Grail legend.
DanteE: aw, damn it.
DanteE: I screwed up by healing him?
Angelo: so Aaron expected to die again?
Random_Nerd: Yeah. It's a big part of the legend surrounding it that it'd only be healed by the Holy Grail.
Random_Nerd: Hence the whole thing with the wounded Fisher King and so on.
DanteE: hm... maybe I should take that back... :)
Random_Nerd: Well, would Dante have known?
Theresa: But then we would have to let him at the Grail to effectively 'heal' him.
Random_Nerd: It's at least moderately obscure.
Angelo: DantE you can cast it later afther someone point it to you... If Aaron today wake up with the wound... is scarry!
DanteE: Dante is a native, remember
Angelo: tomorroy i mean tomorroy
Random_Nerd: Hmm. If it's important, we can retcon it.
Angelo: oh, i forget
DanteE: Well, wait...
DanteE: what if I admit I did the Healing?
DanteE: He's already seen me heal, after all...
Random_Nerd: Well, he knows you have supernatural powers.
DanteE: Knowing 'me', I probably did the whole point-and-heal thing. I have a Bond to 'Impressing People' after all. :)
Random_Nerd: Yeah, it does seem like a Danteesque dramatic gesture. Those just don't always work out.
DanteE: Ah... but if I tell him I did the healing, but don't mention I did the hurting... >:>
Random_Nerd: He thinks of you as being... say, like a powerful magician, or a pagan god. Supernaturally potent, but without moral authority. Living for centuries in a real no-shit Hell with no-shit fallen angels and demons has made him believe in religious matters on at least a pragmatic basis.
DanteE: We just got him, after all. :)
Random_Nerd: For that matter, if you really want to get around it, you could have Herb tinker with his memories.
DanteE: that would be 'editing'
DanteE: which we were debating about earlier
Random_Nerd: Hmm. Now, what were you really trying to accomplish there?
DanteE: What, you think I know? :)
Random_Nerd: If it was just drama for the sake of drama, you certainly accomplished that.
Random_Nerd: And you did get a decent idea of the sort of thing he's afraid of, over the course of the conversation.
DanteE: Mainly to see how Aaron would react to The Spear. Does he kowtow to it, does he try to grab it to bolster his claim, does he try to stab us with it?
Random_Nerd: If he thought it was the real Spear, there's a decent chance that he'd try to stab you with it if he thought he could get away with it. Let's see, you haven't used Aspect around him that I can recall, except for sensory purposes.
DanteE: That kind of thing.
Random_Nerd: He doesn't know how fast Dante can move, so he probably thinks that he'd have a decent shot at you if he had the real Spear.
DanteE: Not that it matters, he could put his full force behind it and I wouldn't even bleed.
DanteE: Though if I did I could anchor him...
Angelo: Well, I must go! There is a kid to awake, breakfast, dress, clean, lleave at the kindergarden and milk for me now in an unordered way (7:00 AM here)
Angelo: See you next week!!!
DanteE: Good ni... well, morning then.
Random_Nerd: If he got a good hit on you with the real thing, rather than the fake, it might actually work. I'd have to look up its actual stats.

      • Angelo has left #nobilis.

Random_Nerd: But with the fake, it wouldn't work unless he was sitting on the front of a speeding fright train and jousting at you with it, and it still wouldn't /seriously/ hurt you.
DanteE: Ah... then there's a way around my screwup. Tell him I did the healing, and feed him just a little pain right there...
Random_Nerd: Hmm. What do you see that as dong?
Random_Nerd: Err, doing.
Random_Nerd: Hello, Tpyo.
DanteE: Vell, I zee zat as beink ein classic Freudian Schlip, and zink you zhould ztart telling me about your mutter.  :D
Random_Nerd: I have no idea what you penis. Uh... mean.
DanteE: (No word from Beth? :) )

      • DanteE is now known as Knockwood.

Random_Nerd: Beth is alt-tabbed.
Theresa: And mostly asleep.  :)
Knockwood: is that a euphemism?
Theresa: <g> Hey, if you two want to talk penises, I am quite happy to log off and let you talk.
Knockwood: As for your un-tpyo'd question:
Knockwood: Well, it'd stop whatever mad plan he's starting, impress him that we really do control his fate, and maybe sell the fake spear. :)
Random_Nerd: Well, if you just tell him you did the healing, he's going to assume that it was just a pointy thing, and not a HOLY RELIC O'DOOM, that he got stabbed with.
Knockwood: Not if we throw in a bit of pain right there.
Random_Nerd: I suppose you could give him unending pain where he was stabbed. It's just... this is starting to look like one of /those/ plans.
Random_Nerd: You know, where it ends up with everyone dead, Amyra on fire, and you've lost your hat.
Random_Nerd: But it's well within your abilities if that's what you want to do.

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 13