Session 68

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 9

BethE: I had had the OOC idea of doing a div on the blood drop to see the events around when it was shed. And that might show who shed it and where and so forth.
lazarus: can people catch me up?
Random_Nerd: That could be done, assuming it was shed in-chancel.
Random_Nerd: Okay, what was the last session you were at? Trying to recall.
BethE: *nod* And if it fails, we know it was shed out of chancel. But could a div be done of "Show us the last half hour of the time whomever shed this blood was in the place occupied by the chancel?
lazarus: when Sara was in Toronto, and Etheric wasn't sure if he was coming back, it was a chatty session.
BethE: Hi Scribe! *HUG*
BethE: Whoops, wrong window.
Random_Nerd: Hmm... yes, you could, as a greater divination.
lazarus: I don't particularly know where we were in the plot - my memory is ... not there.

• • • Knockwood has joined #nobilis.
      

BethE: Hi Knock!
Knockwood: Hiya Beth
Sara: Hey Knock!
Knockwood: Hi Sara
lazarus: hey kw

• • • Mode change "+o Knockwood" for channel #nobilis by lazarus.
      

Random_Nerd: So, let's see. They found out some things about the drop of blood, and the maple.
Knockwood: Hi laz
BethE: Well, Will is getting married but has Snow sleeping in his bed, Sam thinks we're all nuts for having only two ways of seeing things, John's interested in religious books, the Maple is a spy to find out if Kudzu is a Mimic...did I miss anything? Oh and Horse got Monty's room.
Random_Nerd: Also, that stuff.
lazarus: who's Will?
BethE: William.
Random_Nerd: William.
lazarus: oh, right.
lazarus: Horse is another new name
Random_Nerd: It's the horse.
lazarus: (Will is "new" as in - never seen as "will" before, only "william")
Sara: He's a horse.
lazarus: and we have a horse?
Knockwood: you know, the one that could kill everybody.
Random_Nerd: Yep. Snow anchored a horse.
lazarus: ah
lazarus: that would explain it :p
lazarus: I think last I was at, we were still in Mexico (or somewhere not-Chancel)
BethE: Yeah, after Mexico, we came home and recovered for about a week. most of us have started doing Holy Fire rite.
Knockwood: didn't we all agree to do Holy Fire?
lazarus: what's Holy Fire? (Sorry, my memory's blanked out of a lot of Nobilis stuff recently, am getting back to normal, though :p)
BethE: *nod* But I don't know if Brian would want to start it.  :) Although seeing the beating we took was enough for me.
BethE: The 'I do this rite once a week and no one can nuke me. An Imperator does it once a decade and no one can write nasty graffitti about him on the other side of the universe."
Knockwood: laz: it's required if you want to roast Cosmic Marshmallows.
lazarus: ah
Sara: Snow won't do it. Too forward-thinking for her.
Sara: She might do it the first time the others do, though.
Knockwood: BTW, Sara, have you done anything with the char point you got from that last adventure?
Sara: Yup! Made swallowing things free. Cost me 1 DMP before.
BethE: Snow's at the level of Spirit that Holy Fire would just stop big-level things, like nukes, I think.
Knockwood: I was gonna suggest Durant
Random_Nerd: Durant's always good.
Sara: *nods* Maybe next time.
Random_Nerd: Durant just lacks the flair of eating a small tiger?
Sara: Damn right.
Sara: So! Shall we?

• • • Sara is now known as Snow.
      

BethE: rstand.

• • • lazarus is now known as Brian.
      
    • Knockwood is now known as DanteE.
      
    • You are now known as Theresa.
      

Theresa: Brian would be able to tell where we are, right? John's library?
DanteE: (BTW, I thought of a way we _might_ be able to defend ourselves against those damn Ex miracles)
Random_Nerd: Correct.
Brian: (question: what was Brian up to during this me-away time? Some way that getting caught up a bit better would work?)
Random_Nerd: Now, I'm recovering from the flu, so if I'm behind on responding or gibber madly to cthonic gods, please, be patient
Snow: (Guarding the horses.)
Theresa: (Not _the_ Horse, but horses.)
DanteE: (Income Taxes drained his time & energy. :)
Theresa: (I can see Brian coming home from Mexico and just holing up, like after Monty.)
Brian: (true)
DanteE: (Then again, it could be income taxes.
DanteE: (When else are Numbers going to be extremely important, yet need defending?)
Brian: (we run the place. The money is ours. No income taxes for us :-P)
Brian: (oh, true)
DanteE: (OBTW: (Link: http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=317765)http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=317765 )
DanteE: (RN, you should contribute to that)
Theresa: (*looks*)
Brian: (psst: Beth, there's a chance to show off your AP thread again ;) )
DanteE: (Also, tangent: I've finished putting up the first run of Navero on the Wiki.)
Brian: (you were apparently going on about that last time I was around :-P My scrollback says so ;))
DanteE: (and my connection's a little slow, so if I suddenly disappear that may be why)
Theresa: (Yeah, but I wouldn't put it as recommended reading. I scare a lot of people with my logs.)
Random_Nerd: (I probably will contribute to it, once I figure out what to say.)
Random_Nerd: (So, cut to the PCs still talking with John, or on their way back, or what?)
Snow: (Hm...Snow was done with him. You guys?)
DanteE: (We haven't decided what to do...
DanteE: (He rejected the idea of cloning his ancestor, but we were trying to think of a way he could acfcess his memories)
Theresa: (I think it might be helpful to have him around for the divs on the blood drop. Ghost miracles can make the div visible. Plus, he might like seeing his ancestor(s).)
DanteE: (Tpyo! There you are!)
DanteE: (Wasn't Snow doing a Div+Ghost to show him said ancestor?)
Snow: (Ah, that's right!)
Theresa: (*nod* We just hadn't fine-tuned it yet.)
Random_Nerd: (Let's see, how exactly did you intend to do that?)
Snow: (Based on the DNA in the blood drop?)
DanteE: (That's where it bogged down, cuz we were trying to translate genetic theory 101 to coyote. :)
Brian: (I'll save my questions about the blooddrop for when Brian gets back in the group)
Random_Nerd: (Okay. You can do something that'd show you what the guy whose blood it was would look like physically, based on the genetics.)
Theresa: (My idea was that we look at the Realm around the blood drop for about a half hour either way when the blood was shed if shed in Chancel or the last half-hour or so of time the person who shed the blood was in the Chancel.)
Random_Nerd: (Start with Brian arriving to where the others are for some reason?
Random_Nerd: )
Theresa: (Sounds good to me.)
Brian: (I figured he'd be in the tower, in his office, and the group come in, or something ... group find him, rather than opposite. But whatever)
Snow: (Snow'll try based on what the DNA makes him look like, unless someone suggests otherwise.)
Random_Nerd: (Okay, then, cut to the group, with Brian off doing his thing.)
Random_Nerd: _________________START________________

• Snow ghost-creates a three dimensional, life-size, anatomically correct version of what the adult blood donor looked like.
  

Theresa: (With clothes?)
Snow: (Clothes are for humans.)
Snow: (Not coyotes.)
DanteE: (Or... you could show him at the time he bled the drop)
Snow: (Not if he bled it out of chancel.)
DanteE: (Then it wouldn't be _in_ the chancel, would it?)
Theresa: "Uh, Snow...some clothes might help John identify this person a little better..."
Theresa: (It could have been brought in at a later date?)

• Snow shrugs, and puts a copy of John's clothes on the ghost image.
  

DanteE: (yeah, but why?)
Snow: (*nod*)
Random_Nerd: (Just tell me exactly what you're trying to do, and I'll tell you what happens.)
Theresa: "Thank you, Snow. What do you think, John?"
Snow: (For now, an image of what the DNA would have made an adult with that DNA looked like.)
Snow: (If that makes sense.)
DanteE: (Confuse you. How's it working? :D )
Snow: (You guys want something else, explain it to Snow. ;) )
DanteE: "I assume you have a portrait or daguerreotype of him...
Random_Nerd: (Okay. The image looks like a man... say, twenty, assuming you'd create the image at early adulthood, of european descent. Vague similarity to John, enough that it's plausible that they be related.)
Theresa: (Hmm..how coherent is the spirit of the blood drop?)
Random_Nerd: (What do you mean?)
Snow: (It's just a ghost image.)
Snow: (She didn't make any brainses.)
Snow: "You know this guy?"
Theresa: (If I talk to the spirit of the blood drop, not Snow's image, in the Mythic way, can it answer questions?)
Random_Nerd: J: "I'm not sure. He looks vaguely familiar."
Random_Nerd: (It presumably could, if it knew the answers.)
Random_Nerd: (And it wanted to.()

• Theresa talks to the blood-drop spirit. "Blood-drop, do you know where you are?"
  

Theresa: (Oh, there's the kicker.  ;P )

• Snow will force the ghost image to mimic the mythic-speaker, so John can see it as well.
  

Random_Nerd: Blood: "Here."
Theresa: "Is this the same here as when you were first created?"
DanteE: "Do you have an image of ... who was that, John the 19th?"
Random_Nerd: "I don't think so."
Random_Nerd: (That, the drop.)
Random_Nerd: J: "Well, there are painting and so on. And a statue. But nothing that you might call photorealistic."
Random_Nerd: J: "I'm fairly sure that some of the official ones of me have me riding a horse, with a lance under my arm."
Theresa: *to bd* "Do you remember when you were created?"
Snow: "I've got a horse. You should see it. It makes people disappear."
Random_Nerd: John gives Theresa and Dante a worried look.

• Snow looks chipper.
  

Random_Nerd: J: "Horses don't do that much here. The only things we have here that make people disappear are organized crime, and they've been lying rather low lately."
Random_Nerd: Blood drop: "I don't think so. What does being created feel like?"
Snow: "Yeaaaah, we took care of them. That wasn't the horse though. The horse is new."
Brian: (brb. cheese.)
Random_Nerd: J: "So the horse is not a mobster. Good to know."
Theresa: "You're suddenly aware of new surroundings. You can point at a moment and say that that is when you came to be."
Snow: "Nope. Just a horse. Well. MY horse. But still a horse."
Theresa: (I'm philosophizing with a bit of hemoglobin. Go me...)
Theresa: *to John, absentmindedly* "Snow brought home a..friend from Mexico."
Random_Nerd: J: "This is going to be one of /those/ conversations?"
Random_Nerd: Samuel: "Yep."

• Snow yawns widely.
  

Theresa: *to the blooddrop* "We are trying to find out more about the human that you came from."
Snow: "You wanna show me something interesting while these guys talk?" *stage-whispered* "They talk a LOT."
Brian: (b)
Random_Nerd: Blood Drop: "He's dead."
DanteE: "Don't you guys get Official Portraits?"
Theresa: *to bd* "Do you know his name?"
Random_Nerd: John: "Yes. Generally several."
Random_Nerd: BD: "What's a name?"
DanteE: "Got one of him?"

• Theresa frowns, a bit frustrated. "Snow, could you do another divination for me?"
  

Random_Nerd: John: "Yes. We have those here in the palace, actually. At least, the recent ones."

• Snow perks. "Sure!"
  

Theresa: "Okay, I have just one more question for the drop here and then I have a different idea. Okay, blood drop...did the human you came from die around the same time that you left his body?"
DanteE: "OK. Let's see, if this is the guy who died in 1870, he'd be ... JOhn the 19th? Or 18th?"
Random_Nerd: (I honestly can't recall which number I gave earlier, but Dante would remember it.)
Random_Nerd: (18th sounds right, though.)

• Snow creates ghost images of the paintings and statues and other pieces of art of John the 18th around the room.
  

Snow: (Sorry, the other pieces of art in the chancel.)
Random_Nerd: (They look broadly similar to the image created, except for that they tend to be taller, more muscular, and sometimes to have a holy halo of light and divine authority.)
DanteE: "Looks like we have a winner."
Random_Nerd: (It's not conclusive proof, but at least it seems to fit.)
Random_Nerd: Blood Drop: "No, he died a long time before."
Theresa: *blink*
DanteE: (OK, so... describe this blood drop's physical appearance again?)
Random_Nerd: (It's a shiny teardrop-shaped translucent red thing.)
Theresa: "Okay...so this drop was shed from a long dead body. Nice preservation, blood drop."
Random_Nerd: BD: "Thanks."
DanteE: (OK, how's this sound: 'expand' the drop into, say, a cube, and fix it so that someone touching it can access the memories of the drop's owner?)
Theresa: "Snow, can you focus on this droplet...and divine the last half-hour or so of the time spent in the Chancel by the person whose blood this is?"
Snow: (Can she, RN?)
Random_Nerd: (She can try, but it won't work for a specific reason that she'll find out if she tries.)
Theresa: (Still, no response is a response.  :) )

• Snow tries!
  

Random_Nerd: (Hmm. How would you do that, exactly, Dante? Realm Lesser Change?)
Random_Nerd: (It doesn't work, because the last time it was in-chancel in a person, said person had a noble-like immunity to direct miracles.)
Random_Nerd: (But you can tell that fact.)
DanteE: (RN: Realm GDiv with included LCh)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm...)
Random_Nerd: (No, I don't think that would work with Realm.)
Snow: "Can't do it. Last time he was in the chancel, he was like...regular miracles couldn't affect him."
Random_Nerd: (Largely for the last reason given.)
Random_Nerd: S: "That is so not a good thing."
DanteE: "... John's descended from Noble nobles?"
Theresa: "You mean he was a...Noble? That would make sense...you can't divine things about Nobles...or Anchors after they've been anchored. Or Excrucians...or descended from Imperators..."
Random_Nerd: S: "Or his ancestor was Anchored by someone, or something like that."
Random_Nerd: S: "But at any rate, it's gotten complicated."
Random_Nerd: J, to Theresa: "I have basically no clue what you're talking about."
Theresa: (Only _now_ complicated?  :) )
Snow: "It means he was like us."
Theresa: *to John* "Beings like us...or the people that are a part of us like Carrie's parents are to her. Or if you are the offspring of someone like Kudzu."
Random_Nerd: J: "That's not good."
Theresa: "It could explain why he left Amyra and died far away from here."
Random_Nerd: J: "Although I don't precisely /dislike/ your god, I'd still rather that that wasn't the case."
Theresa: (Would we be able to tell if John is descended from Imperator-ity?)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. Probably, unless it was a long time ago. And it doesn't seem that he is.)
Random_Nerd: (John appears to be a baseline human, with only vaguely more Impereal blood than the average human.)

• Theresa looks at Dante. "Dante, the messenger said that the drop was specifically for you?"
  

DanteE: (We've looked him over with The Sight, right?)
Random_Nerd: (Also, the blood drop seems to have come from a likewise baseline human.)
Random_Nerd: (Well, if you haven't, you can now.)
DanteE: "You were there, Theresa. He gave it specifically to me."

• DanteE checks everything out with The Sight
  

Theresa: "Yes, but I'm old and possibly my mind is going on me. What if this blood drop is from a former version of yourself? Or an anchor of Courage or Blades?"
DanteE: "...if he was Noble at the time he bled I wouldn't have gotten squat when I did the Divination"
DanteE: "oh, wait...
DanteE: "...I _didn't_ get him... I just got similarity to John's DNA."
Random_Nerd: (John is not Noble. Nor is the drop of blood.)
DanteE: "Let's try this... we've been concentrating on the _person_... what if we try getting the _event_?
DanteE: "Snow... can you give us a picture of when this drop was first shed?

• Snow scrunches up her face and tries to do so.
  

Random_Nerd: (The time when the drop of blood was first shed did not take place in-chancel. The time when it was most recently shed did.)
Random_Nerd: (You can do the latter one, if you want.)
Snow: (She'll do that, then.)
Random_Nerd: (It was most recently shed when an Excrucian of the Strategists was stabbed by the Holy Lance.)
Random_Nerd: (You can't tell what it was doing inside the body of the Excrucian, but outside of the body it's divinable without penetration due to the funkiness of Strategist auctoriti.)
DanteE: (She ate him?!?"
DanteE: )
Theresa: (Do Strategists have any honoring stuff like the Warmains do?)
Random_Nerd: (In theory, one could perform the Tempering if they wanted to. For that matter, a Noble could. But it is not a thing that the Strategists tend to do.)

• Snow looks pensive. "Okay, so...there was an Excrucian, and...well, here." She uses the RH to put the information in their minds.
  
• Theresa nods, "Yes, that's what happened with the Strategist."
  

DanteE: "John... your ancestor fought Excrucian Shards. And lost. And was considered enough of an opponent for her to use him in a Tempering."

• Theresa eyeballs Dante. "That's a wild jump there..."
  

Random_Nerd: J: "I'll just nod and pretend that I know what you mean, and then ask Will later."
Random_Nerd: John nods.
Theresa: "I mean, she could have just liked keeping trophies. We know that she didn't _look_ like Ancient-John."
Random_Nerd: (And if she was tempered with him, she would, at least to some degree.)
DanteE: "How else would she have _bled_ his blood?"
Random_Nerd: J: "Blood transfusion?"
Random_Nerd: J, to S: "Or is that a stupid idea?"
Theresa: (Did the blood drop come out liquid or solid?)
Random_Nerd: Samuel shrugs.
Random_Nerd: (Came out liquid, then solidified.)
Snow: (Could Snow use a ghost-div to put the information in John's head, without breaking him?)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm... yes. It'll be a bit vague, but it'll work fairly well.)
Random_Nerd: (What information, specifically, are you putting in?)
Snow: (Basically, what Will would explain to him later?)
Theresa: "...okay, you have me there. But Temporing John's ancestor seems more of a stretch than trophy-blood-keeping. It could be that this Excrucian's veins were like very long pockets?"
Snow: (Regarding the excrucians, tempering, stuff like that.)
DanteE: (That's a Realm LCreate, isn't it?)
Random_Nerd: (Okay.)
DanteE: "Why would she do that?"
Snow: (Is it a LC?)
Random_Nerd: (Well, she can make a fuzzy impression of it, like if you'd studied it the night before when tired and slightly drunk, with a ghost.)
Snow: (That's probably the best Snow could do. She doesn't...think...very clearly.)
Theresa: *thinks* "Maybe that's how she got into the Artifact room. The treasures recognized his blood as being of the keeping bloodline and let her pass?"

• Snow goes over to John in her human form, snuffles his collar a bit, and puts this vague, drunken information in John's head.
  

Random_Nerd: J: "If that was the idea, I don't think it worked perfectly."
Random_Nerd: J: "What with the holy stabbing and the melting."
DanteE: "Wait... that only happened when we went in."
Theresa: "Well, we helped with that. She might not have gotten stabbed if we hadn't been there. Or it might have just taken longer for her to go acid-washed."
Random_Nerd: John just shrugs.
Random_Nerd: J: "Could be. I don't know. Holy relics don't come with an operator's manual."
DanteE: "... any damage to the room or artifacts from ... that?"
Random_Nerd: J: "As far as I can tell, the room is currently about the same as it was before. The arifacts seem more... restless, I guess. Aware, somehow."
DanteE: "Restless?"
Random_Nerd: J: "I don't know . Sometimes they just seem like inanimate objects. Since that thing got in, they seem like they're watching me."
Theresa: "Has the Lance ever bled before?"
DanteE: "We know it's _drawn_ blood..."
Random_Nerd: John: "I've never seen it do so."
Random_Nerd: J: "It's bloody in some of the old paintings, but that may be artistic license."
Theresa: "I guess it depends on whether the blood came from the Lance or from the Shard."
DanteE: "Let's analyze this. Whoever's blood this is is probably John the 18th, but we can't be 100% sure because he has the Noble protection against scrying.
Theresa: "Check."
DanteE: "We _do_ know that it reappeared X days ago, and apparently came from an Excrucian Shard who slipped into the Holy Vault and was skewered by the Holy Lance."

• Snow curls up on the ground.
  

DanteE: (what does Message look like?)
Random_Nerd: (*steeples fingers*)
Snow: "Aaaaaand why does this matter? Shouldn't we leave that stuff alone?"
DanteE: "We would is we could, pup."
Random_Nerd: (Message looked broadly human, other than a slightly metalic red skintone and a vaguely Excrucian look to his cheekbones.)
DanteE: *if
Snow: "Why can't we?"
DanteE: (was Message from the Excrucian having the Sacrosanct curse?)
DanteE: "Because they're involved, and under our care."
Random_Nerd: (Maybe!)
Theresa: "Because it's important to find out how the Shard got into the Chancel...into the Treasures room...without anyone finding out until almost too late. And plus, what does your heart (Code) tell you about getting a gift without giving something back?"
Random_Nerd: (That's one theory that's consistant with the facts.)
Snow: "Oh."
DanteE: (... does he have that same Noble immunity?)
Random_Nerd: (He does not.)
Snow: "Well, I made a guy to guard the border. Won't that help?"
DanteE: "You did?"
Random_Nerd: (She spent her Chancel points on a borderguard.)
DanteE: "The drop... may have been an attempt to screw with me specifically, since I'm the one that challenged her."
Theresa: "Wouldn't be surprised."
DanteE: "Wait a sec. Snow... can you trace this drop in between the two bodies it was apparently in?"
Random_Nerd: (Nope. Wasn't in-chancel for that.)

• Snow nods.
  

Snow: (Oh, to the former question, sorry.)
Snow: "It's big. Icy. It'll eat things."
Theresa: "I'd...like to meet it, later."
Snow: "Sure." *languid stretch*
DanteE: "... got any diaries or similar papers from John the 18th?"
Random_Nerd: John thinks.
Random_Nerd: J: "I believe a few of his letters were collected by some historical society."
DanteE: "Anything odd in those?"
Random_Nerd: J: "I don't believe so. Nothing I'm aware of, at any rate."
Brian: (couldn't a Realm Div of "stuff in the letters" work?)
Random_Nerd: (Yes.)

• DanteE does a LRDiv of those letters. (1 RMP, IIRC)
  

Random_Nerd: (Looking for what?)
DanteE: (Language indicating something amazing yet unexplainable happened.)
Random_Nerd: (Nothing like that, unless you deal with what he wrote on meeting the woman he would later have a torrid affair with.)
Theresa: (Does the history books have much to say about the affair?)
DanteE: (... you guys pondering what I'm pondering?)
Brian: (we're dealing with spawn-of-king-and-excrucian?)
Theresa: (I think so, Dante, but where would Snow get such a huuuuge olive?)
Brian: (Joss to T)
Snow: (Heh.)
Random_Nerd: (Not much to say about the affair, no. Royal affairs are seen as something of an embarassment, and aren't focused on much.)
Random_Nerd: (It's relevant only in that it produced a branch of minor nobility.)
Random_Nerd: (At least, if you ask them.)
Theresa: (Minor nobility? Are they still around?)
DanteE: (Well, wait. If it was actually her blood we'd get images of her.)
DanteE: (It looks like it's actually John-18's blood.)
Random_Nerd: (Correct. The blood is male, and human.)
Random_Nerd: (It seems, nonetheless, to have spent some time in the body of someone who was neither.)
Random_Nerd: (And yes, they're still around.)
DanteE: (in Amyra or on Earth?)
Random_Nerd: (Amyra.)
Theresa: "Actually...I'm feeling bogged down with the blood drop. How about we go meet Snow's border guard and come back to this with a fresh brain?"
Snow: (Can Snow do a ghost-div of who that person is?)
Theresa: (Oh, never mind.  :) )
Random_Nerd: (Really, could we stop here? We all seem a bit braindead.)
Theresa: (It sounds okay with me.)
DanteE: (But we haven't completely anatomized this goofy plot tangent like a frog in Bio class! :)
Brian: (heh)
Snow: (Works for me.)
DanteE: (OK.)
Brian: (I'm fine with it)
Snow: Whoops, I meant to take some sleepy-pills before this. Gotta run, guys! *love!*

• • • Snow is now known as Sara.
      

Random_Nerd: ________________STOP____________

• • • Sara has left #nobilis.
      

Theresa: (Everyone loves dirty laundry.)
DanteE: g'night pup. :)

• • • DanteE is now known as Knockwood.
      
    • Brian is now known as Lazarus.
      

Theresa: Darn, missed.

• • • You are now known as BethE.
      

BethE: SOrry I was so off the ball tonight.
Knockwood: OK, question: is this a thing where: a) we're not asking the right questions, b) we're heading down the wrong path, c) we won't be able to figure it out without more RPing, or d) you're pulling this out of your (bleep)? :)
Random_Nerd: Well...
Random_Nerd: I know what's going on here.
Random_Nerd: And it seems to me like you've figured out most of it... and yet you still seem really puzzled.
Random_Nerd: So I'm not sure.
Random_Nerd: Could you tell me what you currently think is the case, and why you think it?
Knockwood: Beth, you take it.
Knockwood: or Laz.
Lazarus: I don't remember the stabbing well enough, but my impression was that the blood was from the spear itself.
Knockwood: nope, the Div says it was in her.
Lazarus: did it?
Knockwood: yep, it was in John-18, then it was shed again from the Shard
BethE: Okay, from my end - it's that this is the blood of one of John's ancestors, who died away from the Chancel. The last time that that person was in the Chancel, they were protected from divs. This blood drop is important, possibly most important to Dante. This leads me to believe that the ancestor was either connected to the Shard we killed (as Dante is the one who killed her with the Lance) or it's possible that he was an Anchor/Noble involved (romantically?) with the Shard or maybe in a fight with her.
Lazarus: h, ok.
BethE: (Did any of that cut off?)
Lazarus: (Anchor/Noble is last)
BethE: Anchor/Noble involved (romantically?) with the Shard or maybe in a fight with her.
Knockwood: Technically, I didn't kill her, the Lance animated and killed her.
BethE: So, how's that, anyone?
BethE: *scrolls up and rereads*
Lazarus: I suspect Anchor romantically involved with the Shard
Lazarus: likely, Anchor of former Blades
Lazarus: er, Courage.
Knockwood: hm... (Beth, what's RN's opinion of Romeo & Juliet?)
Lazarus: I suspect, making a leap, that the Shard killed the former Courage.
BethE: Oh, I see now...I asked about the person whose blood this is. The answer was that "the last time it was in-chancel in a person, said person had a noble-like immunity to direct miracles". The person the blood was in that was in the Chancel...was the Shard. So John's ancestor could have been just plain.
BethE: (Knock - dunno, never asked.)
Lazarus: This screwed up the Anchor, having to choose between his lover and his "master".
Lazarus: He ended up foolishly challenging the Shard, and dying at her hand, as she weeped a tear.
Knockwood: the Shard in the Vault was a Strategist, right?
Random_Nerd: Correct.
Lazarus: Thus why she would keep his blood around :p

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Random_Nerd: (What'd I miss after "strategist, right?")
Lazarus: (11:50:13 PM) Random_Nerd: Correct.
Lazarus: (11:50:19 PM) Lazarus: Thus why she would keep his blood around :p
Random_Nerd: (Okay.)
Lazarus: (so, how close are my completely wild assertions?
Lazarus: )
Random_Nerd: I'll just say it now, in order to cut off any wrong-tree-barking. The affair in John's ancestor's past means entirely nothing of relevance.
Knockwood: OK, that could mean Kudzu tried making Amyra a chancel before.
Knockwood: or ...
Knockwood: (!)
Lazarus: aw, but we like sordid affairs fraught with complications!
Knockwood: The tree is here because a _Mimic_ of Kudzu made Amyra a chancel before!
BethE: Wouldn't that mean that the real Kudzu is dead?
Knockwood: There is the possibility that it's the other way around...
Random_Nerd: And Kudzu is... alive?
Knockwood: no, that John-18 was the Courage Noble of the actual Kudzu, and we're the "Nobles" of the Mimic-Kudzu.
BethE: That our Kudzu killed off the mimic...but the mimic would have to be Kudzu because Mimic is just an outlook on the end of the Universe, not a mask?
BethE: Huh.
Random_Nerd: Well, okay, here's how a Mimic works.
Random_Nerd: Let's say there's Bubbah, Imperator of Horses and Potatoes.
Random_Nerd: An excrucian jumps out of the bushes and stabs Bubbah in the face, killing him, and then drags the body off somewhere.
Random_Nerd: He starts with the whole Rite of Excruciation, which would turn Bubbah into a full Excrucian, but then something makes him think he doesn't have enough time, so he does the fast version.
Random_Nerd: Tomorrow, Robert, Imperator of Transportation, Farming, Domesticated Animals, and Vodka shows up and pretends he's been around all along, or possibly has spent most of his time somewhere far away. Robert is a mimic, and although he's an Imperator in most ways, he's loyal to the Excrucians.
Random_Nerd: Does that make sense?
Lazarus: *nod*
Knockwood: so, if John-18 and I were from different Kudzus, we probably wouldn't have the exact same Domain?
BethE: I think so?
Random_Nerd: Not exactly the same domain. Something close.
Random_Nerd: But the exact domain is dead, because the Imperator who had it died.
Random_Nerd: But it's similar, because that imperator's corpse was used as raw materials for a new one.
Knockwood: therefore, if we find out that John-18 was the NOble of Audacity or somesuch, we'd know that 'our' Kudzu is a Mimic?
Lazarus: Not necessarily? I believe that new Imperators are possible, with same or similar Domains to previous dead ones?
Lazarus: (at least, not impossible as I understand it)
Random_Nerd: Hmm. It'd at least be circumstantial evidence.
Random_Nerd: Now, part of this is that you /do/ get Imperators with similar estates.
BethE: LIke Night and Shadows?
Knockwood: well, it'd also follow that if he was the Noble of COurage something else is happening.
Random_Nerd: Yeah.
Lazarus: if he was Noble of Courage, that's not as big an issue: Nobles dying and being replaced happens.
Random_Nerd: It'd be suggestive if he was the Power of Audacity, and if he was a Power of Courage it would mean that somehow Kudzu had been Enchanceled and then got de-enchanceled.
Knockwood: you mean Amyra
Random_Nerd: Which would be odd but not impossible.
Random_Nerd: Both.
Random_Nerd: Enchanceling changes an Imperator.
Lazarus: it would be strange.
Random_Nerd: Yes. It would mean something was up.
Lazarus: but, it has happened before, right?
Lazarus: (nevermind that the Something Being Up is more fun than Imperator's Not Really, so based on the "principle of most fun", the Something Being Up is what I vote for)
Knockwood: of course, then we have to sort out what exactly we're going to do if it turns out Kudzu's a mimic.
BethE: We had already pondered a little about Amyra having been Enchancled before... *thinks*
Lazarus: didn't we have some evidence that that was the case?
BethE: Well, apparently, we're not the first ones to have that thought, since the Maple was set to watch for Mimicry.
Knockwood: mainly the tree, I think
Random_Nerd: Well, there're signs that others are a little suspicious of him, and he's acted oddly at times.
Random_Nerd: But on the other hand... wildlord.
Lazarus: (nothing sufficient, by any means, but some kind of "effects of Enchancelment"?)
Knockwood: Ah, but... there's Carrie's Vision to consider.
BethE: Oh?
Knockwood: Actually, not her Vision, but her Div of Hope's origin.
Knockwood: Aha...
Random_Nerd: *smile*
Knockwood: if Kudzu was a Mimic, she wouldn't have seen Kudzu when she did her Div of Hope.
Random_Nerd: Oh? Why's that?
Knockwood: Because it wouldn't have been _Hope_. It would have been something close-but-not-quite Hope.
Random_Nerd: There is that.
Knockwood: Beth, Laz, what do you think of this line of reasoning?
Lazarus: I don't remember the Div well enough
BethE: It makes sense. And Carrie would have been able to tell the difference tween Hope and Can'tBelieveIt'sNotHope.
Knockwood: Carrie did a GDiv of the origin of Hope, and saw Kudzu entering the universe.
Lazarus: Therefore, based on the logic that we've got, that's likely then to be Real-Kudzu
Random_Nerd: Well, I can think of at least one way that would be the case if he was a Mimic.
Knockwood: (Beth, check and see if RN's frantically revising his notes... :)
Random_Nerd: I'm not saying that that's the case... but I can think of at least one way.
BethE: (Can't tell. He keeps them in his head.  :) )
Knockwood: (Well, that'd mean you're the _only_ one who could tell. :)
Random_Nerd: There's something that you aren't considering, here. If Kudzu /is/ a mimic, then the previous version wouldn't have been Hope, exactly. So Hope as such /would/ be new to Kudzu.
Lazarus: correct.
BethE: Would Carrie be able to do a divination of hope-like estates before Kudzu entered the Universe?
Lazarus: which is the unstated corollary to my point above: if we look at the Origin of Hope, we're likely to see Kudzu.
Knockwood: But if that were true why would Carrie have seen it?
Random_Nerd: Because that's what she was looking for.
Lazarus: on the other hand, if we see the origin of Creation in some way or other (I think we saw something like that), then we can be reasonably sure.
Lazarus: (Like I said, I don't remember the div well enough)
Random_Nerd: Well, it's in the logs;
BethE: Hmm..would it help to pop this out into the barbermoose emails?
Lazarus: we still have those?
BethE: (For my brain is soft and squishy, like the jello.)
Lazarus: have I even updated my email account?
BethE: I get the notice on the first of the month.
Lazarus: I forgot where I put it x_x
Random_Nerd: I mean, really, you guys have done fairly well at figuring out some of this Mysterious Stuff. You just occasionally get an unspoken assumption that screws you up, like this time until you figured out that the blood had been inside of someone other than the person it originally came from.
Knockwood: Aha! Amyra is actually the World of Darkness, and she's a Vampire!
Lazarus: (I was thinking something like pregnancy, but that doesn't actually fit any of the facts at all)
BethE: And we messed up about the Ancestor = Noble. Because I misread the reply.
Random_Nerd: Do you guys like these Mysteries, or should I cut down on them?
Lazarus: that's something to investigate further.
Random_Nerd: I've been bringing in a fair number of them, since you guys seem to enjoy them, but if I'm wrong about that I can tone it down.
Lazarus: I like Mysteries, but only if they're actually solvable (one of my L5R GMs has the habit of putting in a Mystery, but having the Actual Stuff happen after that, and we get bogged down in the Mystery, with no paths to continue doing /anything/ on)
Knockwood: Depends on the payoff, really.
Knockwood: if the Big Secret is that the World Really Sucks, it kinda dampens the enthusiasm, oui? :)
BethE: SOmetimes I get frustrated before the payoff...but that's usually when I haven't been sleeping well.  :)
Random_Nerd: Do these ones seem solvable, in that sense?
Lazarus: I also vote against the Kudzu-is-Mimic, 'cause that kinda screws with the fundamental concept a little bit. However, that's blatant meta-meta-gaming ;)
Random_Nerd: And those ones that you've got payoffs for, have they sufficed?
Knockwood: we got payoffs?
Lazarus: and, yes, all of yours are solvable: if nothing else, you seem willing to nudge us to a path of investigation (even if it's the wrong one)
Random_Nerd: Well, say, the blood thing. You've mostly figured out what was up with that one, yes?
Lazarus: (contrary to my L5R GM, who when we told "we have no idea what to do next", basically didn't help out much - he did eventually make something happen anyway)
Lazarus: the blood thing, I figure we've mostly got that figured out.
Lazarus: there's several paths it might be, but we have paths, and that's a good thing.
Random_Nerd: Maybe not all of why it was, but still, who it came from, how it got there, and a pretty plausible idea as to why.
Knockwood: actually we don't have a direct connection between the drop and Courage
Knockwood: we're just assuming
Lazarus: the Maple thing, I guess was more-or-less solved in my absence, and it has interesting story implications.
BethE: Maybe it's a connection between the drop and Dante as Dante?
Random_Nerd: So, are these the sort of things that count as payoffs?
Lazarus: as to Courage ... there is a definite connection, given that it was given to you. We don't necessarily know /why/ (we assume former Courage), but we know there's a link.
Random_Nerd: Where you work out what's up, and it gives you a better idea of what the antagonists and so on are up to?
Lazarus: (RN: what I'm saying is why I like your Mysteries)
Random_Nerd: (Okay, good.)
Lazarus: (and sort of explaining what I mean by "solvable")
Knockwood: Well, the connection is "This goes to you, and it's NOT meant to screw with you WHAT-SO-EVER. Really."
Random_Nerd: Well, that's something to consider, too. The blood seems to have been given to you with the intent of screwing with your head. Why do you think that is?
Lazarus: kwd: there's a reason it goes to /you/, and not any of the rest of us.
BethE: We know who the drop is from (both of them), how it got there (Shard carried it in), why...well, don't know why the Shard was carrying it but we know it came out because Dante and the Lance stabbed her.
Knockwood: except, technically, I didn't stab her.
Lazarus: here's a thought: that the Blood was meant to completely distract and sidetrack us away from the machinations of some Ex Shard elsewhere (and thus the one in the room was expendable) ... like, a subtle attack on Courage or Blades that Dante hasn't noticed yet?
Random_Nerd: That would be a very Strategist thing to do.
Knockwood: (and a Rule Zero Violation)
Random_Nerd: Anyway, my brain is now composed of a strange and subtle mixture of various kinds of wax, so I must go.
Random_Nerd: See you guys next week.
Knockwood: oh...
Random_Nerd: Oh?
Knockwood: there's that idea I had as to how to counter Ex attacks like that Wind of Hate
Random_Nerd: Oh? What is it?
Knockwood: ... then again, maybe I should have YOU wait for it, muah-hah-hah-hah.  :)
Knockwood: but seriously, folks...
Knockwood: imagine if you will... something the opposite of Brian's quick-travel thing...
Knockwood: a ring of warped space around the Ex in which the distance between the inside and the outside is a lot more than it 'should' be.
Lazarus: hee, non-Euclidean space bubble!
Random_Nerd: That would work.
Knockwood: Could Laz do it as a tweak of Numbers, or would it be a Change of Space?
Lazarus: that would take some significant mojo on Brian's part, wouldn't it?
Lazarus: (I'm assuming Lesser Change of Numbers)
Lazarus: (at least)
Random_Nerd: Hmm. I think Brian probably couldn't do it easily. We agreed that his quick-travel thing didn't fit the new conception of numbers well, but was grandfathered in for continuity and because it was a good image, right?
Lazarus: yep
Knockwood: and if you do it right you can skirt around their Auctoritas and therefore save on Pen, right?
Lazarus: that's why I'm thinking at least LChange.
Lazarus: (Lesser, because of smallish area)
Random_Nerd: It's lesser change territory, yes.
Random_Nerd: Anyway, I'm out.
Random_Nerd: Later.

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Knockwood: Timing would be the trick...
Lazarus: kwd: remember, the first rule of strategy is to make someone think they know what they see.
Lazarus: thus why I fully believe that the blood drop is a complete red herring
Knockwood: Really?

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 9