Session 37

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 6

[Random Nerd] Now, all of you were currently talking with John, and he had just mentioned that trying to handle the Holy Lance would probably not be a good idea.
[Theresa] Lots of choices of where to go.
[Carrie] (My thought, which I talked about earlier, is to make this an "exploring Chancel mysteries" story arc.)
[Random Nerd] Shall we open back up in conversation with His Royal Kingness, or cut to you guys being outside?
[DanteE] (oh... we should do _something_ about Monty)
[Theresa] (And about the Cams.)
[Theresa] Outside is my vote.
[Theresa] (Hmm..we're all replenished now, so Realm miracles are available...)
[Carrie] I'd say after the conversation.
[DanteE] We have his beeper number, ne? *smile*

• Theresa stretches once they're out in the sunshine. "Poor John...tough job."
  

As you walk out of the palace, your "honor guard" stand up or at least stop slouching, and put down books and magazines they were reading.
William and one of the three-armed guys stop leaning over the pool table that they've dragged in from Kudzu-knowns-where.
[DanteE] "Ah... where did that table come from?"
[Theresa] (William obviously has the Gift of Instant Pool Table from a previous job...)
W: "Did all go in a satisfactory manner, Dominae?"

• Carrie smiles. "Indeed it did."
  

Samuel: "Bar a couple blocks away. The big ugly thing dragged it over for us."

• DanteE turns to the others and asks "Did they break anyone's minds when they did that?"
  

Lesson: "Well... they paid for the table and everything..."
[Brian] "Paid? Wow, I wouldn't have expected that"
[Theresa] "Any new reports about our appearance before Parliament?"
W: "At present, the news media seem to be trying to figure out what exactly to do."
[DanteE] "Did any of you set up the TiVo to record the news?"
[Theresa] "We are probably now being discussed on the Chancel Internet. Flame pages and shrines, even."
[Brian] "Why couldn't we just do a realm div?"
W: "Most of the news television shows have broadcast the parliament meeting, and now the newscasters are offering assorted opinions."

• DanteE mulls over the prospect of having his own Internet Shrine...
  
• Carrie gets a distant look on her face, as she does a divination to find out what the most popular Amyran search engine turns up when input with "Carrie Winters."
  

[Theresa] (Is Carrie of legal age?)
[DanteE] (She is now.)
[Carrie] (I don't know what the legal age is in Amyra, but she's sixteen. Still, as Dante says, it hardly applies.)
[Theresa] (Well, there's just probably debates about her age out there. She is quite the pretty young lady. *smile* )
[Brian] (There's likely at least one person who's ignored that and done some photoshopping. =-o)
[Theresa] (Ahh, the power of Realm...removing nude photoshopping of yourself from the Internet.)
[DanteE] (And if she really wants to see Chippendales dancers, she can Create them. *smile* )
[Brian] (And I fear the inevitable discussions about pairing up of the Nobles. =-o)
Not very many hits, yet.
None of the websites up with your name used in reference to you are very well-made.
Most are conspiracy theories.
[Theresa] (They're only a few hours old. Give them time to put up the blinking text, the pop-up ads and the garish color combinations.)
[Brian] (Why must you hurt the internet, Beth, why?)
[Theresa] (I've spent too much time on it and must take my shots when I can. *grin*)

• Carrie giggles.
  

The three-armed guy sinks a tricky shot on the billiards table.
[Theresa] "So, what do you guys have planned for this afternoon?"
[DanteE] "So... now what?"
[DanteE] "Lesson... what did you hear about that giant you were looking for?"
L: "Not much. The rumors were confused."
L: "Also, many of the people I talked to were drunk, or possibly crazy."
L: "Drunk and crazy people are less likely to freak out when I try to talk to them, it seems."
He smiles.
[DanteE] (We wandered into Unknown Armies, apparently... *smile* )
[Brian] (Comes with the territory.)
L: "But at any rate... it's tall. That's the biggest common factor. It's in the forest."
L: "It looks like an animal, or a skeleton, or both."
[Theresa] "Hmm..so, not one of mine."
L: "Either it isn't violent, or the people it attacked haven't survived."
He ponders.
L: "I think that's it."
[Theresa] (How high would a Realm Div for people killed by a giant in the Chancel?)
[Theresa] (Or for plants to have seen such an event?)
[Carrie] (You could do a Plants div for that, too. Greater.)
[Random Nerd] (Etheric is correct. Greater divs show you anything in the vicinity of your estate, or that your estate has recently been in contact with. A Realm Div would just take a Lesser Divination Of People Killed By Giants.)
[DanteE] "Theresa, the forest is your turf...”

• Theresa does a Lesser Realm Div of People Killed By Giants.
  

[Random Nerd] (You don't find any!)
[Theresa] "I'm not finding anyone that's been killed by this giant yet..."
[DanteE] "What say we locate this giant?
[Theresa] "Sounds good to me. For all I know, it's a herbivore and Red's in trouble." *frown*

• Carrie does a Lesser Divination to determine the location of the giant.
  

[Random Nerd] (It's in a particular place, in the forest surrounding Kaerkoven, a few miles beyond the city limits.)
[Random Nerd] (At present, dragging a tree.)
[Random Nerd] (No, not Red.)
[Random Nerd] (Or the Maple.)
[Theresa] (Thank you for the specifics. *smile* )
[Carrie] "Hmm, it's over in that direction, looks like."

• Carrie points.
  

[Carrie] "Uprooting trees."
[DanteE] (Still, is it less of a tragedy if it's not a tree we know?

• Theresa cracks her knuckles.
  

[Theresa] (Nope!)
[Theresa] "Point me in a direction..."
[Carrie] (Lesser Divination of the quickest way to get there, walking distance?)
[Random Nerd] (You know the way there. It'd take hours, if you walked at normal human pace.)
[Carrie] "Quickest way is that way, but it'd take a few hours to get over there."
[DanteE] (Are the military types and others still around?)
[Theresa] (Is Dante's car Summonable? [g])
[Carrie] (Bah, I can make a car if we need one. )
[DanteE] (Ick weighs over half a ton, my suspension would wind up in the concrete.)
[DanteE] (Though I still don't get _why_ he weighs so much...)
[Random Nerd] (He's made of a bunch of dead guys, a bunch of dead giant bees, and a few spheres of wood the size of basketballs.)
[Random Nerd] (And a lot of icky cotton, too.)
[DanteE] (So, should we have a scene where James flies over & says hello?
[Random Nerd] (Hmm... you know, if you wanted to integrate James back in, we could have him be in the vicinity of the giant, and offer his own explanation of what he's been doing in the meantime...)

[Random Nerd] ____TEMPORARY STOP______
[Theresa] (Hmm...anything in particular you had in mind, RN or James, for James' activities?)
[JamesUrban] (Personal Business - Attending to the funeral of his soul donor and an undisclosed errand for Kudzu were my last thoughts.)
[Random Nerd] Okay, now. James has been missing for a few weeks.
[Random Nerd] We know that some of that time was spent in dealing with some of the inner-Kaerkoven gangs as part of his protecting his domain and chancel, but some of it was spent out-of-chancel.
[DanteE] Not that long... he was at the Cams meeting.
[DanteE] that was at C(hanceling)+1 week
[Theresa] And James' soul donor body was wrapped in vines and tupperware-burped just after the Chanceling, for your info.
[JamesUrban] My thought was the beauty of running an errand somewhere on the tree would be that time could pass differently in the places.
[Carrie] Ah, makes sense.
[DanteE] Kewl
[Theresa] Nifty!
[Random Nerd] That would work well. Do you have a preference as to where?
[JamesUrban] Not as familiar with the tree to suggest one, so nope.
[DanteE] Obviously you were in a branch office somewhere.
[Carrie] ...
[Random Nerd] I'm glad I bought the Automatic Destruction of Puns Gift for self-defense.
[Random Nerd] Hmm. Aelfscienne? Joutanheim? Dionyl? Hell?
[JamesUrban] Joutanheim is giants right? I like the idea of getting a giant something or other.
[Random Nerd] Joutanheim is giants.
[Carrie] Woot! Only took two and a half minutes.
[Random Nerd] There aren't a lot of them there, though. They breed slowly.
[Carrie] Puns breed slowly? Blasphemy!
[Random Nerd] It's probably be easier to just make your own giants.
[JamesUrban] Giant Bunny for a playmate for ours.
[Random Nerd] Besides, you've already acquired one, and they were actually on the way towards another one.
[DanteE] Wait a minute...you're urbanization. You'd be going somewhere with a city, to either survey or help.
[Theresa] Or maybe even be worshipped.
[Theresa] You may have been at the opening of a new city-mind. Like someone with a bottle of champagne and a ship.
[DanteE] (I'd suggest the Crystal Palace from the setting I showed RN, but that probably doesn't 'really' exist.)
[DanteE] hm... Dis?
[Random Nerd] Dis? Which world's Dis?
[Random Nerd] What about another Chancel? Cityback, perhaps?
[DanteE] Did you get Ananda's autograph?
[JamesUrban] That would work too.
[JamesUrban] I could have been expanding the Cityback now that there's somebody with a related estate.
[Random Nerd] Or, at least, doing a favor for Ananda on behalf of Kudzu.
[Theresa] ("My Familia went to Cityback and all I got was this Lousy T-shirt Signed by Ananda...")
[DanteE] That makes sense, Ananda would be interested in Kudzu and James anyway.
[Random Nerd] That sounds good. We can work out the details later, I think.
[JamesUrban] "Somebody that visited Cityback does not love me, but got me this shirt ‘cause he's just nice like that."
[Random Nerd] Okay. We'll have James just wing his way back in and meet up with the others, and it'd be useful if you could have him be a bit cryptic about what he's been up to until we decide on the details.
[Random Nerd] _____RESTART_____

[DanteE] "Hm... maybe we should either make or appropriate a bus..."
[JamesUrban] A small speck appears on the horizon, and grows larger as it approaches. From a distance it appears to be bat-like, but as it gets closer you can see it is James.

• Carrie looks up at James.
  

[Brian] "I see our gargoyle friend returns"

• Carrie waves.
  

[DanteE] "Hey, our prodigal brother."
[Theresa] "Hi James!"
[JamesUrban] James lands and nods at the group. "Hello all. I apologize about my absence, Estate business took me away and it seems time has passed a bit differently here."

• Carrie is composed. "Quite all right. I'll try and get you up to date."
  

[Theresa] "Oh? Can't wait to hear about it." *smile* "We've been up to a little bit as well."
[DanteE] "Did you see our little speech on the news?"
[JamesUrban] "I haven’t seen the news."
[Carrie] "The Boss wanted us to 'clarify our relationship' with the mortal authorities, so we have reached an understanding where we run the show in name but in practice leave them to do what they've always done."
Lesson avoids eye contact with James.

• Theresa will introduce the Aides William and Samuel (in his disguise) to James, when there is a moment.
  

[Theresa] (William is human and Sam's a Dionyl in disguise.)
[Theresa] "We've added a few new things to the Chancel too, but at the moment, we were going to go investigate a giant. Want to come with us and catch up?"
[DanteE] "James, want to take Theresa for a flight for old times' sake? "
[Theresa] "In public?" *gasp and a wink*
[JamesUrban] "Greetings Aides. I'm James of Urbanization, nice to meet you. As for flying, I've had my fill recently."
William nods.
[Random Nerd] (Quick question, Beth. The disguise for Samuel, how would it translate a friendly swirl into human body language?)
[Theresa] (*thinks* I would say a friendly hand wave. The pollen might have trouble translating Dionyl into human facial expressions, though.)
Samuel gives a friendly hand-wave.
[DanteE] (That reminds me... what effect does seeing a talking ambulatory gargoyle have on the mundanes?)
[Random Nerd] (Well, is he guising, or not?)
[DanteE] (He just flew in, so I doubt it.)
[JamesUrban] (Not, but I'll rethink that if we're out of chancel in a large city.)
[Random Nerd] (In that case, lots of pointing and shouting.)
[Theresa] (Did we have reporters following us from the meeting?)
[Random Nerd] (Not at present. There had been, earlier, but your attendants got them to go away.)
[DanteE] "Well, we've got word on a giant on the outskirts of town.
[DanteE] "...and no good way to get there...”
[DanteE] "But I can fix that..."

• DanteE strolls down the stairs making an elaborate gesture toward an empty space...
  

[DanteE] (Realm LC of 3 HumVees, Green, red & gray.
[Random Nerd] (A single HumVee is a single Lesser Creation.)
[DanteE] (Nuts, All right, I'll create the Red one)
[JamesUrban] (Big Armored Personnel Carrier?)
[DanteE] (Ayep. We've got us and the Bureau and our Aides to take...)
[Theresa] (All aboard the Magic Bus...)
[Random Nerd] (Please describe the creation of the Magic APC, unless you want me to.)

• Carrie is still using Realm Divs to surf the Chancel-wide internet.
  

[Theresa] (Nice Connection Speed, Carrie. )
[Carrie] (No need for a response on that, just flavor.)
[Carrie] (Yes, and the resolution inside my head is so much better.)
[Random Nerd] (Incidentally, the Amyran Internet took a big hit when it was enChancelled.)
[Random Nerd] (A lot of previous services, like Google and many folks' email service, stopped working when communication with the outside was cut off.)
[Random Nerd] (They're building replacements, but it takes time to do so, and the process isn't complete.)
[Brian] (We've got Better Than Google going for us )
[DanteE] Where Dante's gesturing, toward a parking lot, it almost seems that a trick of shadows is forming... Ambient light from the streetlamps seems to flicker out for a moment, then return with a reflection off metal. Soon, as if fading in in a movie, the lights coalesce into reds...in the well-known shape of a 'HumVee.
Lesson grunts appreciatively.
[Theresa] "Niiice, Dante."
[DanteE] By the time Dante's come to it, the lights have come up off its red body and chrome trim...so that it's fully formed as Dante opens the driver's side door.
[DanteE] "All aboard!"
[DanteE] "...those of you who can fit..."
[Brian] "I love magic"
[DanteE] "Then do that again, we'll have more room for the gang."
[DanteE] (BTW, can we assume I threw in a LP along with the LC?
[Random Nerd] (Sure.)
[Random Nerd] (If Ick goes in, you probably can't fit in all the rest of the Bureau.)
[DanteE] "I've got to admit, these strain me just a little bit."
[Brian] "I do prefer preserving my power until really needed. We seem to require high-powered Miracles a fair bit."
[Theresa] "It's a bit out of my league, I think..."
[JamesUrban] "I shall make one for Lesson and his group."
[DanteE] "Yeah, it sure beats having them commandeer a schoolbus..."
[JamesUrban] (LC of big Ick sized grey APC)
[JamesUrban] James gestures with his hand and a large army APC seems to coalesce out of a mist that appears out of nowhere.
Lesson lowers his head. "Thank you, Dominus."
He turns to his assorted freaks. "Alright, you heard the Power. Load in, boys."
They board the APC.
[Theresa] (We get the Aides?)
[Random Nerd] (Aides are with you guys.)
[DanteE] "Theresa, you ride shotgun and twll me where the giant is."
[DanteE] "Lesson! You and your group follow us!"
[JamesUrban] James climbs atop the APC and digs in with his taloned hands.
[JamesUrban] (Just for mental reference I'm thinking of the big APC from the Aliens movie as a model.)
L: "Okay, sir!"
Lesson looks at the driver's seat for a moment, then gestures at one of the arm guys, who takes the wheel.

• Brian enters back right.
  

[DanteE] "... I hope we don't run into the Dominus of Paintjobs..."

• Carrie gets into the Humvee with her Familia.
  

[DanteE] "Which way?"
Samuel and William follow the Nobles into their Humvee.

• Carrie does a Lesser Divination of Driving Routes and relays the instructions to Dante.
  
• DanteE drives off once everybody's settled.
  

[Random Nerd] (Incidentally, you may want to do Preservations of relevant foliage to keep it from being damaged by the big vehicles as you go through the forest.)
[Theresa] (Done.)

He's about twenty-five feet tall. He has the look of some sort of bipedal canine made out of unnaturally large bones that were shaped into the form of a giant werewolf and partially melted and fused.
The bones of the face and hands are the smallest and have the finest detail, whereas the body and limbs are cruder.
He's dragging a tree through the woods, and muttering curses in several European languages.

• Theresa whistles softly. In amazement, not in a 'Here, doggy.' way. That would be rude.
  

[DanteE] (Anything like this in Amyran folklore?)
[Random Nerd] (He bears a resemblance to a couple of mythological creatures, if you combined the two while high on something pretty powerful.)
[Brian] (So, par for the course for Nobilis.)
[DanteE] (Ah, one of the Borgstromi.
He turns to face the two vehicles, and says "Lovely. What the [stream of rather literate curses] now?"

• Brian exits the APC.
  

[Brian] "Can we help you?"

• Theresa gets out of the car. "Someone who wants to know what you're doing with Her Trees?"
  
• DanteE exits the car.
  

"Who the hell are you?"

• Carrie leaves the car as well.
  

[Brian] "We're the rulers of this land"
"No, you're not. I know what the King looks like. I've seen him on TV."
[DanteE] "There's been a change of command.”
[Brian] "We're an authority above the King"
[Carrie] "You should watch TV more often. There've been a few recent developments."

• DanteE checks the giant out with the Sight.
  

[Random Nerd] (Not Noble, nor under the effects of a major miracle.)
[Theresa] (How does he look in Mythic view?)
[Random Nerd] (He looks like a rather bookish man with lots of extra limbs, all of which end in the paws of various animals.)
[Theresa] (Hmm..interesting.)
[Random Nerd] (Oh, and the body is human-sized mythically, whereas the limbs grow to match the size of the gigantic paws.)
"So, all this is your fault, is it? You're the ones that changed things?"
[Theresa] "If you have a problem with the changes, we would be better to talk to than the One who Did It. So, got a story?"
"Yes, I've got a story. A few weeks back, I'm a damn professor of European Literature, with a wife and kids and everything. Then everything goes crazy, and the next thing I know I'm the Jolly Green Giant's evil twin and I've got voices in my head."
[DanteE] "Voices?"
"Voices? You know what voices are, one-eye?"
[Brian] "I didn't know we had European Lit profs with such foul mouths."

• Carrie does a Realm Lesser Divination of Voices to determine the cause of the voices.
  

[Random Nerd] (The voices are caused by the fact that his brain's been changed to have the instincts and nature of a mythological monster, and his mind isn't compensating well.)
He glares at the group of you, and throws the uprooted oak tree he was dragging at you all.

• Carrie stands behind Theresa!
  
• Theresa Lesser Preserves the tree's roots into the ground.
  

[Random Nerd] (The tree's in mid-air at the moment. You can make it sprout roots with a free creation, though.)
[Theresa] (Okay, that works.)
[Theresa] (In such a way as to keep the tree from hitting us, please.)

• Brian counters with a lesser creation of a net to catch the tree, with weights to drop it to the ground.
  

The tree, as it flies towards you, has roots shoot out of the bottom and anchor themselves in the ground, as a giant net appears from nowhere and pushes it to the ground.
[DanteE] "Were you a Humanities Requirement Course? You seem awfully familiar..."
"Oh, that would be typical. Are you one of the ones that always turned in your damn papers late?"
[DanteE] "You had us read 20 fucking chapters the night before the trig final!"
"I'm not responsible for the coursework given by other professors, puny human!"
[Brian] "Hulk smash?"
[JamesUrban] "That's hardly the way to help us help you."
[Theresa] "I empathize with your pain. I _do not like_ you ripping up my trees."
to [Theresa] "And I should care why, exactly?"
Lesson gets out of his APC, and walks to where the Nobles are.
[Carrie] "Because we can help you with the voices."
[Theresa] "And because you wouldn't like to get me angry. Or any of us, really, but trees are more my thing to get upset about."
[Brian] (Do not taunt happy fun giant?)

• Carrie reveals the Glory of Hope. "Sorry to disappoint, but we are not human."
  

He aims a kick at the group of you, but stops his foot just before impact when Carrie breaks out the Glory.
He teeters on one foot, but regains his balance.
"Just admit that this is your fault."
[Carrie] "We take what we are given. You receive what you are given. But we can help."
[Brian] "Sadly, it isn't. It's our ... Superior Being's fault"
[Theresa] "Why do you need someone to blame? An oath? A vow?"
[JamesUrban] (Lesser Div on Why he was changed upon enChancellment)

• DanteE looks him over thoroughly, in an effort to differentiate him from the creature.
  

[DanteE] (Though James' is better, really.
[Random Nerd] (Side effect of the changes in the chancel.)
[Random Nerd] (A number of things in Amyra got changed and made more like mythological things. He's one of them.)
[JamesUrban] (Something ongoing or would a change back tend to stick?)
[Random Nerd] (If you transformed him back, it would probably work. Lesser Change, or about four or five Lesser Destructions.)

• Carrie lets up on the Glory, slowly.
  

"Well, I don't know, because suddenly my life sucks, and it's sure not /my/ fault..."
[Carrie] "Would you like me to help with the voices? I'll only do it if it's freely chosen."
"Yes. Yes I would, actually."

• Carrie smiles, and that smile includes in it all of the former professor’s hopes and the clarity of his convictions. He gains a presence of purpose, formed by his innermost desires, which incorporates the mythological voices and yet is not ruled by them. (Lesser Creation of Hope, 2 DMPs.)
  

He shakes his bony head for a moment.
"That... that was odd."
"You know, it suddenly seems like a good idea to build a giant castle out of the bones of horses. But that seems a bit odd, doesn't it?"
[Brian] "Does sound cool. Except for the whole dead horses thing. That's a little icky."
[Theresa] "Odd seems to be a word in more use these days..."
[Carrie] "If that's what you choose to do, who will gainsay you? But you must do only as you choose. Don't let the changes rule you. Don't let my advice rule you, either."
"Fair enough. Do you know where I could get about a hundred thousand dead horses?"
[DanteE] (So, we're not changing him back?)
[Carrie] (Changing him back would be a separate miracle. I'm doing what's within my Domain.)
[DanteE] (Realm, not Domain.
[Theresa] (Realm Creation of many dead horses?)
[Random Nerd] (That would be a Greater Creation of Dead Horses.)
[Brian] (RC of one dead horse, with a Domain Miracle for me to duplicate them. I think.)
[DanteE] "Now, wait...
[DanteE] "You _could_ stay a giant ... whatever you are... and build...”
[JamesUrban] "I would rather change him back to his former form than provide dead horses to him."
[DanteE] "or...”
[DanteE] "We could change you back to the professor you were. Normal human size."
[JamesUrban] "However if you have some greater plan for him, I am willing to listen."
[Carrie] "My only plan is to have him choose his own fate."
"I mean... I would like to go back to my old life. But I /also/ want to do the horse-bone thing."
He sits down, knocking over an oak as he does so.
[DanteE] "You can do amazing things with Tinkertoys or Legos. "
"...just wouldn't be the same..."
[Brian] "Thanks, Dante. Now I want to build a lego castle."

• Theresa walks over, nonthreatening-like, and rights the oak with a sigh.
  

[DanteE] "Who would live in the bone castle, by the way?"
"I honestly haven't through it through that far yet. It just seems like a good idea."
[JamesUrban] "Any objections then to my returning him to his former form?"
[Theresa] "I don't know if he shouldn't _be_ this way. He was changed, just as we were."
[DanteE] "I don't see miraculous nature in him, though...”
[DanteE] "It may indeed be a side effect.”
[Carrie] "I don't object myself, James, but remember the rules the Boss charged us with keeping to."
[DanteE] "And 'What is done should be done cleanly'."
[JamesUrban] "I have no wish to return to my former form. He does however, and as he is trapped in a form he doesn't care for.. it's a kind of prison from my point of view.
"Could I have a few days to think about it, now that I can think more clearly?"
"And could you get my wife and kids, and tell them that I'm not just a crazy monster?"
[JamesUrban] "From my understanding of the process, he would not change back."

• DanteE tries really hard not to mention how he felt about the prof's class...
  

[DanteE] "Shouldn't you be _with_ the wife and kids?"
[Theresa] *to James* "I think giving him a few days to think about what he wants is reasonable, right?"

• Carrie does a Lesser Div to determine the status of his wife and kids.
  

[Random Nerd] (Wife's currently at work, kids are at school.)
[Carrie] (More thinking of, what do they think happened to him?)
[DanteE] (Come to think of it... we've got our cell phones)
[Random Nerd] (They don't know. Last time they saw him, he was going off to work.)
[Random Nerd] (Later that afternoon, everything changed, and a giant bone hyena monster came and muttered somewhat incoherently at them, and they ran away at the time.)
[Random Nerd] (They don't know what to think. The wife's considering complaining to the government about it, after the big news that broke today.)
[JamesUrban] "I'm not quite sure what you changed in him, Carrie, but if you believe he is no longer a danger to the land.. including the equine population.. I am more than willing to give him time."

• Carrie nods.
  

[Carrie] "We do expect that you be respectful of the humans and the life of Amyra, and we will keep an eye on you from afar."
[DanteE] "What's he going to eat, though? Where will he sleep?"
[Theresa] "Once you come to a decision, just pray to one of us and we will answer. I am Plants, this is Courage, Hope, Numbers and Urbanization."
[Theresa] "He hasn't eaten any people yet, so I don't see feeding him as a problem."
"Why do you need to protect the horses, though? I mean, it's not as if we don't kill plenty of cows every day..."
[DanteE] "Right, he's just knocked over trees."
Lesson, to one of the arm guys, quietly: "What's a horse?"
[JamesUrban] * James turns to Lesson. "Horse." (Ghost Miracle - Horse gallops around for a sec)
L: "Thank you, Dominus."

• Theresa flushes. "Okay, so my temper comes and goes..."
  

[JamesUrban] "Shall we call his wife and ask if she wants him back?"
[DanteE] "What have you been eating, anyway?"
"Anything I can catch. Deer, mostly."
"I wouldn't recommend it. You know what uncooked deer tastes like?"
"If not, try to keep it that way. I would kill for a hamburger the size of a small shed."
"Err... in a totally figurative and metaphorical way with the killing."
[Theresa] "With ketchup or without?"
[DanteE] "How about, we restore you to normal size, swing by an UberBurger, then take you home?"
[Theresa] (I thought we were letting him decide what he wanted to do, first.)
[DanteE] (I'm offering, not compelling.)
"I don't know."
[Theresa] (Well, it's just that we _could_ give him that big of a burger, if we wanted. It might even fall under Urban.)
[Carrie] (Soyburger?)
[Theresa] (Do you want to give a giant werewolf a veggieburger and hope he can't tell the difference?)
[JamesUrban] (In no interpretation of my estate would creating giant hamburgers fall under it. Mayor McCheese maybe.)
[Random Nerd] (Fast food definitely falls under Urbanization, I think.)
[Random Nerd] (Just like the Power of Horses could probably make a saddle with no trouble.)
[Random Nerd] (Or, for that matter, Brian could probably make a calculator, or Carrie make an inspirational book.)
[Brian] (Brian IS a calculator. )
[JamesUrban] (I can see that. I can see making a fast food place, but not just a giant burger.)
[DanteE] (James probably creates Starbucks by accident when he sneezes.
[Theresa] (Dante - that...is both disturbing and probably right...)
[Carrie] "If you're serious... Would you agree to do an equivalent service for us, within your power? If so, I can grant you your hamburger. But it wouldn't be free for me, and I've already spent a good deal of effort helping you."
"Miss, how the devil am I supposed to figure out what's equivalent to making a gigantic hamburger for a giant made of bones?"
[Carrie] "I believe that the answer lies within you. There's something of the Wild in the voices I felt. So you should be able to feel it, within your heart."
[Carrie] "Do you agree?"
[Carrie] (If he *can't* feel it within his heart assume that this is a Carrie delusion.)
[Random Nerd] (Well, his problem is more a matter of figuring out what an equivalent is, rather than what his own nature is.)
[Carrie] (My thought is that the mythic parts of his personality would know it intuitively.)
[Carrie] (It may be true or not according to your judgment, but Carrie has decided to believe it.)
[Random Nerd] (Nobody's connected to the mythic part of their personality.)
[DanteE] (Wait, the Mythic part may want to stay regardless of his desires.)
[Carrie] (I'm not saying Mythic as in Mythic World. I mean the voices.)
[Random Nerd] (The personality they have in the mythic earth, and the one on the prosaic earth, are two separate mentalities. They don't connect, save in cases of DA and of some forms of mortal magic.)
[Random Nerd] (Ah, okay. But why would the voices know how to judge the magnitude of a favor compared to a giant burger?)
[Carrie] (Carrie's going by the voices originating somehow in the Wild. It's a wild Wild theory and may be totally wrong. She's going to believe it no matter what he says, though. )
Giant, to Brian, in what's probably supposed to be a whisper but would be audible twenty feet away: "Do /you/ know what she's talking about?"
[Brian] "When she goes on like that, I tend to stop listening. I know she truly believes what she says, but I don't understand myself"

• DanteE swats Brian. "Be nice to your sister."
  

[Brian] "Ow."
"Do you have any specific ideas of what I could do?"
[JamesUrban] *In a whisper to Carrie "You most likely will get a tiny castle of horse bone."
[Theresa] "Have you seen any other problems in your travels since you changed?"
"Well, ma'am, I was a little preoccupied by being turned into a giant insane freak."
[DanteE] (And does any part of the bone-castle thing ring a bell WRT Amyran myth?)
[Random Nerd] (Ogres building castles of bones appear in some Amyran myths.)
[DanteE] (And how tall is an ogre?)
[Random Nerd] (Also, sorcerers, on occasion.)
[Random Nerd] (Folklore is regrettably silent on such details, other than that they're taller than people.)
[Theresa] "That _would_ be a distraction. *thinks* How are you are dealing with trouble or problems of a physical nature?"
"Generally by grabbing or hitting things? That's one of the few things that works well when you're this big."
[DanteE] "I think it would be better overall to restore him to human."
[Carrie] "As do I, Dante, but that's not our choice to make."
[Theresa] "But are we going to do that to everyone in the Chancel who has been changed into something?"
[DanteE] "We could."
[JamesUrban] "That wishes to return to their former lives. Yes."
[Carrie] "I don't have that much power. Do any of you?"
[Brian] "Collectively, we ought to be able to."
[DanteE] "If we do it one at a time."
[Carrie] "One at a time, how many times? And each one is quite draining."
[Theresa] "And we haven't even let the Professor here make up his mind yet."
[DanteE] "You tell me. How many 'changed' things in the Chancel?"

• Carrie does the Divination, limiting it to sentient beings.
  

[Brian] (Lesser Realm Div of "Things that used to be people that want to be people again")

• Carrie's wasn't limited to wanting to be people again, incidentally.
  
• Carrie is defining sentient beings as those who think like humans or roughly analogously.
  

[Random Nerd] (Which one of you is doing the Div? And how are you defining "people" for it?)
[Random Nerd] (So, divination of changed people?)
[Brian] (I'm doing the div of changed people who want to be back.)
[Theresa] (But how many of those who want to be back, actually think they can be changed back? Some may have given up that thought due to lack of hope.)
[Random Nerd] (Okay, there are about seven thousand beings that have been changed to this degree, and a larger number with a minor change.)
[Random Nerd] (Of those, about 2,000 want to be changed back, 2,000 don't, and 3,000 are on the fence about it.)
[Random Nerd] (Incidentally, all of the 3-arm guys who're here with you are in the "want to stay the same" category.)
[DanteE] (They're ex-humans?)
[Random Nerd] (Correct.)

• Carrie gets a glazed-over look in her eyes, then nods.
  

[Brian] "On the order of a couple thousand."

• Carrie realizes something.
  

[Carrie] "I could change them all back at once. It would put me in the hospital, and I would need to work together with an Anchor, but I could. Sure to attract the Boss's attention, though."

• Carrie muses.
  

[Random Nerd] (Also, Brian, about 6,000 human beings would strongly like to become something inhuman.)
[Brian] (Weird.)
[DanteE] (Not really.)
[Theresa] (We have Otherkin?!?)
[DanteE] (Or furries. Or just anime fans who identify with, say, Kusanagi.
[Carrie] (*chuckles at Otherkin remark*)
[Theresa] "Maybe the Boss _wants_ this biodiversity in the Chancel."
[Brian] "Hm... seems we've got several thousand non-humans in human form. Or, that is, several thousand humans who want to be something else"
[Carrie] "I think that's a given. The question is, what do we do about it?"
[JamesUrban] "I....so many...I could do it as well with great effort."

[lazarus] It hadn't occurred to me that others might be changed too.
[Etheric] It hadn't occurred to me that there wouldn't be others.
[JamesUrban] Indeed. I thought most of the mythical critters were created wholecloth, not changed humans.
[BethL] More articulate than our other giants. And I like this one's grating personality.
[Knockwood] In his case, the 'best' thing to do would probably be turn him back to a human, swing by an UberBurger for a Big Sloppy, and take him home to his wife & kids.
[Random Nerd] Ah, but the thing is, subsequent to Carrie's miracle, he's not sure that that's what he wants.
[Etheric] The best-laid plans...
[Knockwood] So Carrie's the reason he's considering staying as a giant?
[Etheric] I integrated the parts of his mind that were changed into partly feral, with his rationality. It's to be expected.
[BethL] Now, he can actually _think_.
[Etheric] I didn't expect it, but it is to be expected.
[JamesUrban] Well, he's not throwing trees around, but it does raise more moral questions.
[Etheric] That's what I like about Nobilis. Moral questions.
[JamesUrban] Is it better to change them so they don't want to be human, or change them back to human.
[lazarus] "If you had the powers of a god, and could change a former person, now giant, back into a person, would you?"
[Etheric] Incidentally, I'm not saying you’re wrong or anything, but your take on the Wild Code seems markedly different than our past James's. It came as something of a surprise to me.
[lazarus] He obviously encountered something changing.
[Etheric] That could work.
[JamesUrban] Really? He seemed very code driven at times.
[Knockwood] Speaking of which... am I correct in assuming leaving him as is would violate the 'should be done cleanly' tenet of the Light?
[BethL] Seemed rather grim...err, stony at times.
[Random Nerd] It would depend why you were leaving him as he is.
[JamesUrban] Now he's partly insane, which is good too. Sanity is a prison and all that.
[BethL] Rather than completely insane?
[Etheric] Ah, good. No complaints, then.
[lazarus] Dogs in the Vineyard often says that no one can judge the PCs but their players.
[lazarus] I'm feeling the same way about Nobilis.
[Etheric] As I said, I'm not judging. Just commenting.
[Knockwood] And it's kewl to have a James back.
[Random Nerd] Indeed.
[Etheric] Indeed. It's good to have another James back, regardless.
[BethL] I agree. And I find the change in Lesson remarkable. [G]
[lazarus] Yes, I understand the comment-rather-than-judge thing. I was just pointing it out - specifically for the "does this violate my code?" thing.
[Random Nerd] The change when interacting with James?
[BethL] Lesson feels more...respectful? Not quite submissive, now.
[Random Nerd] Yeah, I've decided that, based on the way he's interacted with James in the past, Lesson will treat him more like how he used to approach dealing with a Power of Hell.
[BethL] Ahh, but with less groveling?
[Random Nerd] Well, he has changed a lot.
[Random Nerd] But when he's talking to James, it's the closest to how he used to be.
[Random Nerd] So, he's more likely to avoid eye contact, and he'll use "Dominus" rather than "Sir" or "Ma'am."
[JamesUrban] Thanks. I have to get used to the miracles and do math again. (Word of Command = 8 so fresh I would have 5 and have to burn 9 other MP's through Last trump to pull it off. Possible but almost totally draining.)
[Etheric] Actually, RN has ruled that you can't fill slots with Last Trump that you don't have.
[Random Nerd] Etheric is correct. Last Trump lets you shift points around, but not fill a MP pool with more than it can hold.
[JamesUrban] Ah. Thanks for the clarification then.

[Knockwood] The pace was a little slow, though that's mainly because we didn't really have a direction at first.
[BethL] I agree on the slow, but I liked the Professor's personality. And trying to think if Theresa can create a veggieburger that _could_ fool a meateater. I doubt it, though.
[lazarus] It's been done. I don't know why. But it has.
[lazarus] "Hm... I know! We'll market a product to people who specifically don't eat meat - a lot of them, because of its taste - that tastes like Real Meat!"
[Etheric] You could do it with a Change.
[Etheric] Hmm. Most, the chance to show off Hope miracles by clarifying the giant's purpose. Least, the chaos involved in our talking past one another at times. (Granted, it's been weeks since we had a session and we're all getting used to it again.)
[JamesUrban] Just starting I found trying to have to balance between playing / not playing enough / or dominating. Please let me know if I seem to be too far one way or the other.
[Etheric] In general, we will have sessions where one player tends to dominate, and it hasn't gotten out of hand. If it becomes any sort of problem we'll let you know.
[BethL] I'm glad that we have a bit of a purpose again.
[BethL] Heh, Dante may have a run for his money now. [G]
[lazarus] [JamesUrban] don't worry about the balancing of what you're doing. It seems to work out as long as you're not trying to dominate. I tend to be quiet until I have something to do or say.
[Knockwood] (ahem)

• Etheric chuckles.
  

[BethL] Hmm, are there any ways to keep from going in circles again?
[Etheric] Every circle has an ending. In this case, it's because it's the early AM and I'm winding down. So, I'll see you all later.
[Knockwood] I kinda did that by making the car and driving us off.

Beth


Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 6