Session 128

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Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 14

-->| YOU (Angelo) have joined #Nobilis
=-= Angelo has changed the topic to ``After the cliffhanger...
-->| lazarus (~Mike_MacM@MagicStar-684C972B.storm.ca) has joined #Nobilis
<Angelo> Hi!
<lazarus> I's here this week.
<lazarus> internet is sorta working :p
<Angelo> nice to hear :-)
<Angelo> btw last time we play you where with us
<Angelo> I think...
=-= Mode #Nobilis +o lazarus by Angelo
-->| BethE (~BethL@MagicStar-D88E7E90.hsd1.il.comcast.net) has joined #Nobilis
<Angelo> Hi Beth
=-= Mode #Nobilis +o BethE by lazarus
<BethE> Hi guys! RN will be on in just a moment. He's talking to his family.
<BethE> Hope you all are okay?
<Angelo> Yeah, I'm ok. My wife is sitting here and peeping on the laptop from time to time
<Angelo> :-)
<lazarus> installing Dawn of War: Soulstorm. Hopefully it doesn't take the whole screen.
<BethE> *wave*

  • Angelo don't know the game

<lazarus> 40k RTS.
<Angelo> oh, can be nice ... I'll google on it a bit later
<lazarus> it's very good. Not fully 40k-ey, with base building, but it's a nice RTS. Dawn of War 2 is apparently more 40k-style
<Angelo> thank you
<Angelo> last rts that I played was warcraft 2
<lazarus> that was the last excellent one, imo
<Angelo> ehm... but was what, 10 years ago?
<lazarus> more, I think.
<BethE> (Hmm...I didn't get a PM from Knock this week...hope he's doing okay...)
<Angelo> wikipedia says was 1996
<lazarus> and, unfortunately, no longer really available. Bastards.
<Angelo> I was also wondering on knock
-->| Random_Nerd (~scree-fic@MagicStar-D88E7E90.hsd1.il.comcast.net) has joined #Nobilis
<BethE> *shifty* Uhh, I play WoW, but I don't really know much about Warcraft before that.
<Angelo> Hi big bad master!
<lazarus> hey RN!
<Random_Nerd> Sorry about that, I had to fill out a form to get a number that I'll need to fill out another form. Great fun.
<lazarus> my internet works! *pokes* see? ^_^
<Random_Nerd> I see!
<Angelo> *chorus* Alleluhia!
-->| Knockwood (~chatzilla@71.94.74.IP) has joined #Nobilis
<BethE> Hi Knock!
<Knockwood> hey, you're all here
<Angelo> Hi Knock!
<Random_Nerd> Hey, Knock.
<Knockwood> anything happen last week?
<lazarus> hey kwd!
<Angelo> no,
<Angelo> we are at the cliffhanger
<BethE> We had two gone, so cancelling per RN's rules.
<Knockwood> did some reading of the old logs earlier this week...
<BethE> Oh?
<Knockwood> yeah, sorry about that.
<Angelo> there are rules on cancelling?
=-= Mode #Nobilis +oo Knockwood Random_Nerd by lazarus
<Knockwood> anyway... among other things, we're supposed to catch James, and he's considered summoned to the Council at first opportunity.
<BethE> Yep, if two people (out of 4 players) are gone, the game is cancelled. (Of course, if RN is gone/sick, that's an automatic.)
<BethE> Oh? Huh.
<Knockwood> Come to think of it, you hear anything from Rand or... ah, who was that other guy...
<BethE> Nope, haven't heard anything from Stories.
<Knockwood> not him, there was another potential player...
<Random_Nerd> I forget who the other one even was.
<Random_Nerd> Oh, on a side note, I finally tracked down something I'd referenced in a previous session. Remember the Power of Lost Things, who kept them all on the Moon? I worked out where I'd gotten that from.
<Random_Nerd> Orlando Furioso.
<BethE> The gender-switching guy?
<Random_Nerd> Astolfo looked for Orlando's sanity on the moon, when it was lost.
<Angelo> Yeah with a winged horse
<Random_Nerd> And that's the Virginia Wolfe Orlando.
<Random_Nerd> This is the one who's the chivalric knight Roland by a different name-variant.
<Angelo> this one is from Ludovico Ariosto
<Random_Nerd> Yep.
<Random_Nerd> Although the character predated that, of course, that's the proximate source.
<Random_Nerd> So, anyway. Ready to go?
<Knockwood> sure
<Angelo> Yeah!!! Ready!
<lazarus> I suppose
=-= lazarus is now known as Brian
=-= YOU are now known as Ftisk
=-= Knockwood is now known as DanteE
=-= BethE is now known as Theresa
<Random_Nerd> So, when we'd last left Our Heroes, you sent a mechanical gnome Outside, who's connected to a thought-record machine.
<Random_Nerd> And it was starting to give... eccentric results.
<Random_Nerd> ________________START______________________
<Random_Nerd> (Was it Dante or Brian who was divining back home to see?)

  • Ftisk look at the recording machine

<Brian> (Brian)
<DanteE> (Brian, I think. I'm only R1)
<Brian> (though I don't remember what came out of the machine)
<Ftisk> (I remember was dante)
<Random_Nerd> (Okay.)
<Random_Nerd> Samuel is trying to operate the machine, correctly, but the printout is showing word-salad rather than sensible text.
<Random_Nerd> First, there's the part that you were there for, the explorer-gnome being sent through a gap in the Wall that Shadows enlarged enough for him to slip through.
<Theresa> (Space monekys are trying to write for Excrucian Shakespear!)
<DanteE> (I'd have to blow RMPs to do it, I think)
<Random_Nerd> And then it goes "Falling bright dark fever help think think sharp dark bright sharp thought."
<Random_Nerd> A pause.
<Random_Nerd> "Sharp plants dark bright man dark think think garden sharp."
<Random_Nerd> (What do you do?)
<Theresa> "Does Jeeves do drinks?"
<Theresa> (And can we all see what is being divined or just Brian?)
<DanteE> "What's the word from the machine?"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "He does. I also taught him to do the hangover-cure of his literary namesake."
<Ftisk> uhm can I do a divination in the neirborhood oh the gnome?

  • Theresa is impressed.
  • Ftisk too

<Brian> "The machine's spitting out ... sorta one word thoughts."
<Random_Nerd> (One moment, please. I just found out that I've been accepted at another law school.)
<DanteE> (Another?)
<Ftisk> (WooY!!)
<Theresa> (RN is trying to get into a law school. So far, it's been...stressful. We've been waitlisted at the school in the town we live, accepted at one 12.5 hours drive away, waitlisted farther than that...and now we just got accepted in Arizona.)
<Theresa> (The 2nd waitlisted had 150 spots in their student class...2500 people applied.)
<DanteE> (I get it... you take up a space in the enrollment rolls of as many law schools as possible, which means others _don't_ get in, which means fewer lawyers down the road! Brilliant!  :D )
<Ftisk> (then, congratulation! You are in Arizzona? don't you?)
<Theresa> (No, we're in Illinois. Arizona is...one moment...)
<Random_Nerd> (Okay, back. Sorry about the delay.)
<Theresa> (Arizona is 25hours drive.)
<Brian> "Was there any way to ensure that bot remembered to come back home?"
<Random_Nerd> Gnome Thought Machine: "Bright garden dark plants cut thought. Thought cut." And then it's gibberish.
<DanteE> "I pinned a note to him..."
<Brian> "Hm.
<Brian> "
<Theresa> "I'll take a virgin daquiri, heavy on the strawberries."
<Brian> "hm. T, is alcohol a part of your domain at all?"
<Ftisk> (miracles can't reach the outside of the wall right? even with a familiar object to contact for a divination?)
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves folds a great number of his limbs into an intricate pattern, and does a many-limbed cats-cradle of red light between them.
<Random_Nerd> Then a drink appears between two of his leathery black limbs.
<Random_Nerd> It is, unfortunately, light on the strawberries.
<Theresa> "I can make yeast and I can get water and I can make hops. And I can _wait_."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Impressive."
<Theresa> "Thank you, Jeeves. Will it offend you if I add strawberries?"
<DanteE> "How hosed is our gnome, anyway?"
<Ftisk> "umgh let's try, Jeeves, a motor oil, high on lubricant, please"
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves: *A large hand, thumb pointing up* *Another hand, index finger pointing at Jeeves."
<Random_Nerd> Over Jeeves' head: *A large strawberry* *A smiley face*
<Random_Nerd> Then he does the cats-cradle thing again.

  • Theresa adds enough strawberry to her drink that it may possibly be only consistent of ice and strawberry molecules.

<Random_Nerd> A cup appears between two, again, but it's filled with olive oil rather than motor oil.
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves holds it out, hesitantly.

  • Ftisk take the cup and sip a bit

<Ftisk> "Thank you Jeeves"
<Random_Nerd> (He can create food and beverages, but not other things. Still, he tried.)
<Theresa> "Interesting stuff back from the gnome, I think. If gardens exist Outside...well, it makes sense, since the Boss came from there."
<Brian> "Can you make a rum and coke?"
<Random_Nerd> The gnome's thought record now looks more like a hex dump than anything else.
<Ftisk> (For this reason I tanked it anyway)
<Brian> "And Ftisk, can you translate hex-code into gnome-thought?"
<Ftisk> I can try
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves looks at Brian. A lime wedge and a question mark appear.
<Brian> "Sure."
<Random_Nerd> (Ftisk, a divination of Data shows that there isn't any in the stream. It's just random numbers, with no signal in the noise.)
<Theresa> "Maybe he's in route?"
<DanteE> "If he's seeing a garden..."
<Ftisk> "Brian, these are only random number... there is no data inside"
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves rears up a bit, the front three feet of him standing up in the air, and this time he just reaches into thin air, the tips of his forelimbs disappearing in mid-air.
<Brian> "Hm."
<Random_Nerd> He pulls them back, with one holding a lime wedge, and the other a highball glass filled with a drink and a fair bit of ice.
<DanteE> "Any way you can send a thought from the machine to the gnome?"
<Brian> "I think this shows that Outside changes thoughts? Either that or the wall interferes with data transmission"
<Random_Nerd> With a flourish, he adds the lime to the cup and presents it.
<Random_Nerd> (And since he felt bad about the oil, he's showing off now.)
<Ftisk> "Shadow, can Jeeves go and find or rescue the gnome?"
<Brian> "And thank you Jeeves." *takes cup and drinks*
<Random_Nerd> Shadows takes a step to the side, interposing himself between Jeeves and Ftisk.
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "He might, but the transition can be dangerous and I'd rather not lose him, or lose his mind."
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves lowers his body and shuffles behind Shadows.
<Ftisk> "Oh, I understand"
<Theresa> "Let's work on the gnome first. Jeeves is doing well here, it'd be a shame to lose him."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "The best thing to do, right now, is wait. See if the gnome comes back. If it doesn't on its own, I can try to summon it directly."
<DanteE> "Ftisk, can you show us the feed from the gnome?"
<Ftisk> "What is a reasonable time to wait? 24, 48 , 76 hours?"

  • Ftisk ldiv of the feed "Sure"

<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "I'll try to push my other self to send him back. What did he say?"
<DanteE> "He should be in the vicinity, right?"
<Ftisk> "Shadow isn't too soon to rescue the gnome?"
<Random_Nerd> S: "What did the gnome say, before he went crazy?"

  • Brian repeats

<Random_Nerd> S: "Oh. So it worked perfectly, then?"
<DanteE> "Bright garden dark plants...?"
<Random_Nerd> S: "He's probably with me right now."
<Ftisk> "Bright garden dark plants cut thought."
<Theresa> "How much is your other self like you? Dark would make sense if he saw the Other Shadows."
<DanteE> "Theresa, any chance you can see there?"
<Brian> "Seems to work right. Confused about the hex, though"
<Random_Nerd> S: "Well, the other me isn't the Power of Shadows, for one thing. He doesn't have the tie to Barakiel, either, so you could see his face. Instead, he keeps something called the Garden of Silver and Black. I don't know for sure what it is yet."
<Theresa> "We didn't send any plants with the gnome, but I could try."

  • Theresa eats some strawberries and concentrates.

<Random_Nerd> S: "I don't think it's a garden in the sense of plants. I think it has... something else."
<DanteE> "Sounds like the gnome is there
<Theresa> "I should have put an ivy on the gnome before it left."
<Theresa> (So, would this be a GDiv? Or don't try since there's nothing 'plant' outthere?)
<Ftisk> "We can resend the gnome later, after the rescue"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Just a moment. I have to do something."
<Random_Nerd> He goes and takes up certain of his tools.
<Random_Nerd> (I'd say "Don't try unless you have a clever idea." Even GDivs don't work unless the estate is present.)
<DanteE> "WEll... let's wait. He may be in that garden."
<Theresa> (If I had been clever, I would have sent a plant with the little gnome before.)

  • DanteE checks the feed for changes...

<DanteE> (and I could have sent a dagger...)
<Theresa> "Hmm...maybe they used to have gardens of plants while Kudzu was around and don't now that he's here."
<DanteE> "Well, it's a 'garden', which seems to mean it's growing something"
<Ftisk> "Being the gnome a machine I can try a greater div. on it"
<Brian> (LDiv of Numbers: is there any pattern to the code coming in, in hex-base?)
<Random_Nerd> (No.)
<Theresa> "You can have a garden of livers, doesn't mean I can look at it from here."
<DanteE> "He did say 'dark plants'

  • Ftisk try with a ldiv on the gnome

<Random_Nerd> S: "Does't mean he was right. After all, he's talking about something he's never seen, in a world that might not even exist in three dimensions, while he's having a psychotic episode."
<DanteE> "Good point."
<Random_Nerd> Ftisk, there seems to be no gnome that fits the description of the one that you're looking for within your Estate.
<Random_Nerd> Shadows moves his arm in a jerky manner through the air, waving a wand.
<DanteE> "We're still getting a feed, though...
<Theresa> "So, was Jerry Garcia or Hunter S. Thompson ever Excrucians?"
<Ftisk> ( : -( )
<DanteE> "... or are we?"
<Ftisk> "Yes a garbled one"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows' wand describes a triangle in the air, and the gnome falls through with a *CLUNK*.
<Random_Nerd> Gnome: "So, when do we start?"
<Brian> "..."
<Ftisk> "Gnome, report your operativity and a mission review"
<Random_Nerd> Gnome: "We are sending me over, right?"
<Brian> (sadly, not the Power of Anime, so I can't literally have that speechbubble)
<Random_Nerd> G: "A mission report on what?"

  • Ftisk data div on gnome memory searching for any remaining memory"

<DanteE> "Ah... you just _went_ over."
<Random_Nerd> Gnome: "I don't get it."
<DanteE> "What does your internal clock say?"
<Random_Nerd> Ftisk, from the point of view of the gnome, he still hasn't gone over. He was standing in the circle, the incense was blowing around him, and then suddenly he's three feet up in the air and falls down and then everyone starts acting weird.
<Ftisk> "Gnome, we send you outside and then Shadow rescued you"
<Random_Nerd> The gnome looks at his left wrist for a moment.
<Theresa> "Huh...the Swiss Cheese effect?"
<DanteE> Any change to the note I pinned to him?
<Random_Nerd> G: "Looks to me like it's exactly what I'm saying."
<Random_Nerd> The note is gone.
<Random_Nerd> The gnome He glances down at his chest and see
<Random_Nerd> (Err, no He)
<Random_Nerd> and sees that.
<Random_Nerd> Gnome: "I really went over?"
<Brian> "yep"
<Brian> "We have a log"
<Brian> "You degenerated into random numbers at the end"
<Ftisk> "Yes, but you have no memory of the experience"
<DanteE> "... if that happens every time someone goes through....
<Random_Nerd> Gnome: "This is the most disappointing exploration I've ever heard of."
<DanteE> "Hold on a second..."
<Random_Nerd> Gnome: "I go all the way outside reality, and I don't even know I've been there?"

  • Ftisk ldiv machinery on the gnome to check if is somewath different from the gnome we send

<Random_Nerd> G: "Ripoff."
<Random_Nerd> It's the same gnome.
<Ftisk> "Yes is a peculiar problem"
<Random_Nerd> You see, though, that there's a note stashed inside his torso that wasn't there before.
<DanteE> "Should we risk sending him back?"
<Ftisk> "Wait, if the note is outside and the AW estate exist outside, maybe we can communicate with altShadow"
<Theresa> "Hmm. I wonder. If you go from here to there, you lose all your memories of here unless you're protected, like what Shadows is doing. And if you do the opposite, you would need to be protected to keep any memories of what you do over there?"
<Theresa> "Hey, we've got mail!"

  • DanteE checks the gnome for an access panel...
  • Ftisk puzled "???"

<Random_Nerd> (Is there one, Ftisk?)
<Random_Nerd> (If there isn't, then the note seems to have just appeared in there without breaching his outside in any way.)
<Ftisk> (yes, why not)

  • DanteE opens the gnome...

<Random_Nerd> The note appears to be a small poem. Well, kind of a poem.
<Random_Nerd> "Roses are red/Violets are blue/Lord Kudzu smells bad/And so do you. Signed: The Excrucians."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Now I'm even more confused."
<Brian> "..."
<DanteE> "Uhoh."
<Theresa> "Aww, how sweet."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "I'm about seventy precent certain that it's from me. Him. Whatever."
<Theresa> "They must not have chocolates on the other side."
<Ftisk> "Is extra wall communiation possible!!!!"
<DanteE> "That would mean your alt is an Excrucian."
<Brian> "excrucians as mirror images?"
<Random_Nerd> ShadowS: "Or else he has a weird sense of humor."
<Random_Nerd> (Err, no S.)
<Theresa> "Maybe people on this side can make doubles on the other side that become Excrucians but not every person has a double."
<Theresa> "And besides, if he had put Entropy's name there, we wouldn't have believed he was from the other Side anyhow."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "I know that many things out there aren't Excrucians. Most aren't, really."
<DanteE> "He knows who Lord Kudzu is..."
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves: *Picture of a shiny knight on a horse, with a red circle and slash through it*
<Ftisk> "He call him by name"
<DanteE> "Are you sure? Up until a minute ago you didn't know your alt was an Excrucian. Maybe."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "I don't think he /is/ an Excrucian."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows rummages around for a piece of paper. He writes: "There once was a man from Nantucket. Et Cetera. Signed: Luc Ginneas." and hands it to Dante.
<Brian> "Jeeves? I don't understand that one"
<DanteE> (I did tell you the rest of that, didn't I? :) )
<Theresa> "True, anyone can sign something "Excrucians." Unless you like, put the starry eyeballs right in the paper."
<DanteE> "OK, next move?"
<Random_Nerd> (Everyone knows that one, don't they?)
<Ftisk> (not me)
<DanteE> "Probably not, 99% of the time it stops after the first line.)
<DanteE> (oops, () that)
<Theresa> (Uhh, is that the one that ends, "And your mother's a whore." ?)
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves: *close-up picture of a face with stars drifting in its eyes* *arrow pointing at Jeeves* *Red X*
<DanteE> (There's actually a few variants, but the dirty one is... brace yourselves...
<Theresa> "We don't think you're an Excrucian, Jeeves. You're right, not everything from the Other Side is one."
<Random_Nerd> (Does the last line start "If my ear was a"?)
<DanteE> (There was a young man from Nantucket/whose dong was so long he could suck it/said he, with a grin/as we wiped off his chin/"If my ear was a cunt, I could fuck it!")
<DanteE> (er, he, now we)
<DanteE> (*noT)
<DanteE> (Tpyo, behave!)
<Theresa> (And the game goes silent.  :) )
<Ftisk> (I wait to dant to put the opaper in the gnome)
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "So, what now?"
<Ftisk> (dante)
<DanteE> "We _may_ ... emphasis may ... be able to do realtime communication with that little paper we sent you, Shadows."
<Brian> "We try the fancy programming paper"
<DanteE> (Assuming we can communicate with Sam)
<Ftisk> (Brain have ralm 2)
<Ftisk> (Brian)
<DanteE> (What about Pinky? :) )
<DanteE> "What if we have Sam make up a pair of bigger sheets--with instructions--and bring them here?"
<DanteE> "Then we put one in the gnome and re-send him."
<Ftisk> "Nice Idea"
<DanteE> "And we can ask the big question: what do you want, and why?"
<Ftisk> "Or him can ask this question to us..."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Who are we asking? My fetch, or the Excrucians, or what?"
<Brian> "We can ask that too"
<DanteE> "Of course, there are risks."
<Theresa> "WHoever finds the note, I guess. Maybe your fetch is having a party."
<DanteE> "Shadows, you're kinda in this with us, what do you think?"
<Ftisk> "Gnome are you ready to travel to the oter side of the wall?, again?"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "I don't know. I'm trying to find out the answers to some of the same questions, but these aren't the methods I'd use."
<DanteE> "What method are you using?"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Heh. Really, if I wanted to just find out as soon as I can, I'd just finish getting my first crown, and then jump off a bridge."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "But I'm just developing an understanding of the arts of summoning as quickly as I can, and developing a firmer bond with my other self."
<Theresa> "Jump off a..."
<Ftisk> "I presume there will be a portal awaiting you"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Or, at least, a bridge with magma and scorpions and so on at the bottom, I guess."
<DanteE> "This would not only help you find out, but may help with that crown as well."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Well, you know. If I get to my first crown, and I die, then I won't reincarnate in here. I'll do it Out There."
<Theresa> "No, I did not know."
<Ftisk> "Oh"
<Theresa> (That probably wouldn't stop Brian...)
<DanteE> "I say we go for it. My Domain says so."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Please don't go looking for bridges. That was a joke."
<Brian> "Courage is rash and impulsive?"
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves: *A covered wooden bridge, crossed out*
<DanteE> "You've known me how long?"
<Theresa> "Man has a point."
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves: *A clock, the minute hand on 12:02*
<Theresa> "And I for one will not be jumping off of bridges just because other Nobles are doing it. Do you know how many vengeful kindergarden spirits would come after me?"
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves: *the number seven* *a question mark*
<Ftisk> "We'll must remain rationale"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "So, what's the plan? I'm just going along with your ideas, as long as they remain strictly non-bridge-oriented."
<Ftisk> "there are other methods to obtain our goal"
<DanteE> "At the low level, we're talking about sending a sheet of paper over. Might not even work."
<Brian> "we could send one of us over?"
<DanteE> "No thanks, I like my brain cells."
<Brian> "Not sure it should be me. I've had a prophecy that sounds ... not so great"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Oh? Oh, yes, you had been talking to Jan Ben Jan."
<Ftisk> "WE can resend Gnome as a vector to shield the note"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Sending a Noble across would be much harder. I might not be able to do it at all, and I can't guarantee the results."
<Ftisk> "he *want* to go outside!"
<DanteE> "Brian, ask Sam if he got enough info from the raccoon to make a more reliable communication paper."
<Ftisk> (Gnome I mena)
<Theresa> *to Jeeves* "No, I think that it would be in at least the triple digits. I taught many many small children."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "If that's what you want, come back in a month at the soonest."
<Brian> *to Sam* "Dante wants to know if the raccoon has made a more reliable paper yet"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "I know that Excrucians can send Shards through, but they have godlike power, and it's not easy even for them. For me, the strongest things I've been able to get through were Jeeves here and the wasp."
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "More reliable in what sense?"
<DanteE> "We are NOT sending a Noble through. I'm impulsive, I'm not nuts."
<Brian> to Sam: "To try to talk to Outside"
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "He's got a communication one that might possibly work if you have someone beyond mortal on both sides. But even then... just sending a message to Jupiter or Dionyl is hard, and that's within the same part of the Ash. If it works, it won't work well, as near as I can guess."
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "But, hey, I didn't think the thing to Locus Barakiel would work at all. So who knows?"
<Brian> "Dante, Sam's not sure at all."
<Brian> "... Ftisk, didn't the memory recorder have the ability to play it back into the gnome?"
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "If you get a Noble or better on this side, and the equivalent out there, and your friend Shadows opens the biggest pathway he can... it might work."
<Ftisk> "of corse .. yes"
<Random_Nerd> (And yes, it did.)
<Brian> "Sam's thinking we need at least Noble on both sides AND a pathway"
<DanteE> "Hm... a message made it here with just Sam on the sending end."
<Brian> "I'm thinking our next step is to play the memories back into the gnome."
<DanteE> "I thought the memories were just random numbers."
<Ftisk> "if on the other side there is alt shadow ora n excrucian can work.. if Shadow help up"
<Brian> "We're not sure what the memories /are/"
<Ftisk> "Me too, but do a playback is risk less.. more o less"
<DanteE> "... all right."
<Ftisk> "Brian can ask to sam to playback the gnome memories?. please"

  • DanteE watches the gnome

<Brian> "It can be done remotely? Alright." To sam: "Sam, can you hit the 'playback' button on the memory machine?"

  • Ftisk ldiv continuosly the gnome

<Random_Nerd> Sam: "I think so."
<DanteE> "OK... Gnome, tell us what you're experiencing."
<DanteE> "We're going to play back a memory."
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "How far back do you want me to start it?"
<Brian> to sam: "At the instant of going Outside"

  • Ftisk I broad cast the gnome's sensory imput so any one ca nsee an listen

<Ftisk> (a data ldiv is enough)
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "And... go."
<Random_Nerd> The gnome crouches down the way he did just as he went across, and then starts rolling on the floor and babbling the words you saw recorded earlier.
<Random_Nerd> He rants about darkness, and brightness, and gardens, and thoughts.
<Random_Nerd> Then he goes into what looks very much like a seizure.
<DanteE> LDiv Courage to find out what specifically he's scared of
<Random_Nerd> He has no thoughts that can meaningfully be said to express fear of anything.
<DanteE> "It's not fear..."
<Brian> "Not sure what to check for."
<Theresa> "Random electronic pulses?"
<Brian> "Insanity, maybe."
<Random_Nerd> Ftisk, you can tell that in the seizure, he's doing minor physical damage to himself, and you can tell from earlier that he was not previously damaged in this way.
<DanteE> "... a seizure in a human can be from the 'wiring' in the brain giving off random pulses."
<Random_Nerd> You're pretty sure he didn't have a comperable seizure, unless he got repaired afterwards.

  • DanteE picks up the gnome...

<Random_Nerd> Sam: "What's happening?"
<Ftisk> "Ido a divination on the gnome to see if it was different from the send one but the gnome was the same one"
<DanteE> What's in the feed?
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves: *big, shiny question mark*
<Ftisk> "And what there is after this point?"
<Random_Nerd> The feed currently being fed into him is the random numbers part.
<DanteE> (from him, not to him.)
<Brian> to sam: "I think we can stop the feed now."
<Brian> "The bot went seizure at the random number segment"
<Random_Nerd> Sam cuts it, and the gnome falls to the ground flat.
<Random_Nerd> Gnome, weakly: "Whaaaa?"
<Ftisk> "Gnome how do you feel?"
<Random_Nerd> Gnome: "What happened to me?"
<DanteE> "We fed you what you sent back from your trip"
<Random_Nerd> Gnome: "Please don't do that again unless you have to."
<Brian> "Don't worry"
<Brian> "I think we can conclude that thinking works differently."
<DanteE> (Now, was the damage caused by seizing on the hard floor?)
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "I don't think thinking /exists/ out there. I don't think you can do it any more than you can greebleflorp in here."
<Random_Nerd> (Yeah. Some by impact with the floor, and some by straining his joints in his wild twitching.)
<Brian> "I suppose then that's why the feed went all erratic"
<Brian> "As soon as the 'thinking' wore off on the poor gnome, things went random."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "That's why I think the Active Writing idea is interesting. If you're right, and it exists both in here and out there..."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Jeeves, do you have thoughts in the same way as a human would?"
<Random_Nerd> Jeeves: *two arms, fairly stylized, shrugging*
<Random_Nerd> Sh: "Fair enough."
<Brian> "His speech seems to imply possibly"
<Brian> "But then, it's possible that being here, the thinking grew on him?"
<DanteE> "How long has Jeeves been here?"
<Ftisk> "And that being outside will athophize it?)
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "A couple weeks. It gets hard to keep track of time when I'm always in the lab. Shortly after you first talked to the wasp."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Only thought I have, other than the writing thing, is an Anchor. I could probably get one across, and he'd be able to sustain the existence of thought and memory within himself. Do you have any expendible anchors, someone you really hate?"
<Brian> "Not really"
<Ftisk> "I can anchor the gnome..."
<Brian> "Do you hate it?"
<Ftisk> "sadly no..."
<Ftisk> (ops, sorry)
<DanteE> "Well, wait.
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "And if you lo... uh... feel a strong emotional bond that is surely lawful, you won't want to risk its life..."
<DanteE> "All we really want to do is protect it from the effects.
<DanteE> "And even then, it just needs to be long enough to deliver the paper and/or get a feel for what's out there."
<DanteE> "... a pod. Or a suit."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "If you know how to make an anti-edge-of-reality suit, please, tell me."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Huh. Turns out I'm not being sarcastic."
<Random_Nerd> Sh: "That actually would be pretty cool."
<DanteE> "It doesn't have to last long. Just long enough.
<DanteE> "We already know you can re-summon him unharmed.'
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Once, at least."
<DanteE> "Can we put him in a 'bubble' of Creation material?"
<Ftisk> "I'm for just resend the Gnome with a note"
<Ftisk> "But for the creation materian idea, Theresa can create a plant cube around the gnome"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "He /is/ a bubble of Creation material. So're you."
<DanteE> "We can do both. He'll deliver the note, then look around, and we can pull him back if his thoughts get scrambled, and still have the note in place to communicate/."
<DanteE> "Brian, have Sam prep that communication-note."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "I think, from what you said, that his thoughts started to scramble before he was even all the way there. And when he was, they completely splintered."
<DanteE> "That's why he needs a bubble."
<Brian> to sam: "Sam, Dante wants to try out the communication paper thing"
<DanteE> to Brian: "Tell him to make it big."
<Brian> to sam: "make it big."
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "Okay, I have a copy here. Tossed it together in between gnome trips. Can you see it okay?"
<Random_Nerd> (You can.)
<Brian> "Yep."
<Ftisk> "Yes"
<Brian> "We want to send a copy outside, too"
<Theresa> "From the sound of it, the effect goes _through_ Creation material. I could put the world's largest lincoln log set around him and the effect would get through."
<DanteE> "Hm...
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Yeah. It's not like acid or anything like that. The problem is that the fundamental laws of Creation don't exist out there. You can't make a wall that will block there being no such thing as thought."
<DanteE> "Maybe if one of us creates it around him right before he goes through...
<Ftisk> (Createa new gnome is a LC right?)
<Ftisk> (Because the though record machine is already here?)
<Brian> "Perhaps create a bubble of thought ... but ... Realm-wise, it'll vanish once not here"
<Random_Nerd> (Lesser Change, since normally machines can't be sentient, if you want a thinking gnome.)
<DanteE> "Can one of our Preservations help?"
<Random_Nerd> (For that matter, Theresa or one of the others could make a comperable thing.)
<Random_Nerd> (Theresa could make a talking cactus, and so on.)
<Theresa> "Maybe that's why the swiss cheese effect. The memories of each place are part of that place and can't exist in the other."
<Theresa> ("Feed me, Seymour...")
<DanteE> "Ftisk, you said there was _no_ difference between the gnome we sent and the one that came back, right?"
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Yeah, they have to have something that functions for them the same way memory does for that. The same way Dionyl use the Triad instead of Sex. But it's certainly not the same thing as memory."
<Ftisk> (I was thinking of a backup unit, wehn Gnome thougk go crazy the backup boot and kick in doubling the time the gnome will work)
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "And so you can't remember it any more than you can juggle the number five."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows glances at Brian.
<Random_Nerd> Sh: "Bad example."
<Ftisk> "Rigth I have done a divination on it"
<Brian> "Hey, it's not easy..."
<Random_Nerd> (If you just want to keep the existing gnome safe, you could toss a Lesser Preservation on him. That'd make him very hard to physically injure, at least, and make his sanity less likely to get smashed.)
<Theresa> (Great, now I'm wondering if the Triad has seen sex and I imagine him taking notes on how to improve it...)
<DanteE> (Now I'm picturing him seeing certain porn and going "Yeah, like that." :D )
<Random_Nerd> (Well... he's the one that showed up in a human body...)
<Theresa> (So he's already got kinks...)
<Ftisk> "Ok ,I'll harden the gnome with a preservation"
<Brian> (total aside: WotC has put up a copy of H1: Keep on the Shadowfell for free on their site. Also, the quick start 4e D&D rules.)
<DanteE> "And let's just have Sam bring the papers and the thought recordewr here, it'll simplify things."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Pigeon! Go to Locus Amyra! Look for the guy made of scarves, and open your mouth!"
<Brian> "..."
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "You saw him, right? Or was it just the others?"
<Theresa> "No pigeon to me."
<Brian> "not sure. Still."
<DanteE> "No, that was William. And he freaked out a bit... :) "

  • Ftisk do a lpres on gnome

<Random_Nerd> On Sam's side, a rock suddenly sprouts a circular and hungry mouth.
<Random_Nerd> It looks rather like a Sarlac from Star Wars, as drawn by Picasso.
<Theresa> (Sam's seen Star Wars, right?)
<Random_Nerd> (Yes.)
<Theresa> (He's going to look for a Han Solo to throw in...)
<Random_Nerd> (He liked the prequels better, though.)
<DanteE> (Ew. :) )
<Theresa> (The Luke ones or the Anakin ones?)
<Random_Nerd> (Anakin.)
<Theresa> (The Dionyl is dead to me.)
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "What is that? I mean to say, WHAT IS THAT?"
<Ftisk> (rotfl)
<Brian> "That's a pigeon. Maybe."
<Theresa> (Is it for sending Sam here or just the paper?)
<Random_Nerd> (Just the paper.)
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Don't look at me, you guys named it."
<DanteE> (How will Shadows get here, though?)
<DanteE> (Er, Sam, not Shadows. Sheesh.)
<Random_Nerd> (Well, Shadows just thought Sam could toss them in. He doesn't know how big the thought recorder is, though.)
<DanteE> "Ftisk, how big is the Thought Recorder?"
<Ftisk> "Is big as as an arcade game cabinet..."
<DanteE> "You might need an industrial-strength carrier pigeon for it.)
<Ftisk> (me think of pacman... wackawacka...)
<Random_Nerd> Shadows: "Okay, I kept some mojo loose, I'll give the pigeon a shot. But I am getting worn out, and I'll have to stop soon."
<Theresa> (*pats Shadows on the head and gives him a cookie*)
<Brian> (... is that the GM speaking through an avatar? :P)
<Random_Nerd> Shadows twists the ring he's wearing. Brian, through the divination you see the mouth of the 'pigeon' grow to about six feet across.
<Ftisk> (mystical refreshing cookie?)
<Random_Nerd> (Nah. It's Shadows spending some Spirit MPs and noticing that he's running low.)
<Random_Nerd> (Although it is getting late.)
<DanteE> ("OK, in just a minute a bizarre beastie from the Nth dimension is going to show up and eat your recorder. Trust us." "You do know 'Trust me' is Dionyl for 'Fuck you', right?" :D )
<Theresa> (_Someone_ had caffeine...)
<Theresa> (*snort at Dante*)
<Brian> to sam: "The pigeon wants the papers and memory machine"
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "I don't mean to get snippy, but I'm pretty sure that's not a pigeon."
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "Pigeons are small birds that live in cities. That's a hole in the fabric of reality. I can tell the difference."
<Random_Nerd> (It isn't a hole in the fabric of reality, exactly, but it at least looks like one.)
<Brian> to sam: "Shadows called it his Pigeon."
<DanteE> (It's a metaphorical carrier pigeon.)
<Theresa> "William named it."
<Ftisk> )yeah, same task, different shape)
<Random_Nerd> Sam tosses the note in, and then says "Okay, gooood pigeon, take the machine..."
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "William named it? Well doesn't that just figure."
<DanteE> "I think Sam can ride in it if he wants..."
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "I'd rather not, at least unless you can show me some peer-reviewed studies that say that magic demon pigeon reality holes do in fact /not/ hungrily devour dionyl."
<Brian> "They throw them up later?"
<Theresa> "You know, that may explain the sock thing..."
<DanteE> "Sam does have a way to get here, right?"
<Random_Nerd> Sam: "If you really need me over there, I'll go, but I'd rather not."
<DanteE> (Can we operate the recorder and the paper?)
<Random_Nerd> (Yes.)

  • DanteE fires off LDivs on both to get how to use them before they get eaten.

<DanteE> (-2 RMP total?)
<Random_Nerd> (Yes, if you have Realm 1.)
<DanteE> "OK, we'll let Sam talk with the raccoon to get more on Active Writing while we conduct our grand experiment here."
<Random_Nerd> (Should we call it a night here?)
<Theresa> (*brain oozes, doing a decent Ftisk impression*)
<DanteE> (Hm... having the next session be about this experiment would make sense, I think)
<Brian> (I think so...)
<Brian> (I'm hoping beyond hope my internet will stay up)
<Random_Nerd> __________STOP___________________
<DanteE> heh
=-= Brian is now known as Lazarus
=-= DanteE is now known as Knockwood
=-= Theresa is now known as BethE
<Random_Nerd> So, what'd you think of how your experiment went?
<Knockwood> Think about how some of the lines from this game sound out of context
=-= YOU are now known as Angelo
<BethE> Have RN do his healing over the internet toward your connection.
<Angelo> I liked it
<BethE> Jeeves is still cute.
<Knockwood> Dante tries zap-healing his connection... :)
<Angelo> yeah! Is adorable
<Knockwood> actually, I could have 'healed' the gnome, couldn't I
<BethE> Sorry, guys, I need to bow out and reboot. But good game and see you next week!  :)
<Knockwood> g'night Beth
<Angelo> bye BEthE!, good night
<Angelo> .
<Knockwood> We had some confusion in the middle about the plan...
<Random_Nerd> See you all next week.
|<-- BethE has left irc2.magicstar.net (Connection reset by peer)
<Random_Nerd> Such is the nature of the game.
<Knockwood> We are NOT sending one of us. :D
<Angelo> SURE!
<Lazarus> eventually...
<Angelo> or an achor
<Lazarus> (and I could use an internet-heal ... it's at 30kbps download on a theoretically 3MB DSL line ...)
<Knockwood> (good thing this is text)
<Angelo> yeah
<Knockwood> well, my problem with that is my feeling that Anchoring is a Big thing.
<Lazarus> oh, and phone calls throw it all off.
<Lazarus> anyway, I'm calling it a night. Night!
<Knockwood> not just, "Oh, this'll protect you".
|<-- Lazarus has left irc2.magicstar.net (Disintegrated: Leaving.)
<Knockwood> g'night Laz
<Knockwood> nuts, missed
<Angelo> Night Laz
<Angelo> me too
<Angelo> well, I go to bed too. Night Knock, Rn.
<Knockwood> OK, g'night Angelo
<Random_Nerd> G'night, Knock, Angelo.
|<-- Random_Nerd has left irc2.magicstar.net (Disintegrated: )
<--| YOU (Angelo) have left #Nobilis


Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 14