Session 71

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 9

BethE: Hmm, so when we last left off, the girls were off talking to Lesson and looking at the Transmogrifier. While the boys were...I forget where.
lazarus: heading off to the Vault, again.
BethE: Ahhh. Do try not to bring Plague and Pestilance down upon the Chancel?  :)
BethE: Hmm, there's a thought. Does the Beloved Populace thing work on the Treasures?
Random_Nerd: They aren't chancelfolk/
Random_Nerd: However, it might have some effect, if they have a reason to care that the chancelfolk love Brian.
lazarus: 6-3
BethE: So, we're missing a person from each scene...bummer.
Random_Nerd: Yep. If it was just Sara or just Knock, we'd start. But we're a bit short with two missing.
Etheric: Hmm. Well, in the meantime... Talk about how the game is going?

• • • Knockwood has joined #nobilis.
      

Knockwood: Hi guys
Etheric: Or not. Heya, Knock!
BethE: Hi Knock!
Knockwood: sorry I'm late... glitchy computer
Random_Nerd: Okay, now, let's see. Carrie, Theresa, and Snow were checking up on Lesson, and Dante and Brian were... going to see the Treasures, I believe?
Knockwood: yep.
Random_Nerd: Start with Dante and Brian, since we ended with the girls seeing Lesson And Friends?
BethE: Sounds good to me!
lazarus: sure

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

DanteE: "So, you're saying she planned to meet me at the vault?"
Random_Nerd: _______________START________________
Brian: "I believe so, yes"
Brian: "I'm not quite sure what we're looking for, though..."
DanteE: "Doesn't make much sense, that just means she wanted a sword in her gut."
Brian: "Remember that Excrucians are not like us. They may not care if they die, if it helps them"
BethE: (Then again, they may be bastards like the rest of us and value the safety of their own skin over some things.)
Random_Nerd: (Depends on the type.)
DanteE: "We should probably just put King John on speed-dial.
Random_Nerd: (Warmains no. They're front-lines sorts. Strategists are more the rear-echelon sort.)
Brian: (brb)
DanteE: (are we at the palace yet?)
Random_Nerd: (Sure. It's close.)
DanteE: (and BTW Brian... what happened to barbermoose?)
BethE: (*stares*)
Brian: (b)
Brian: (oh, FRAK. I thought I had another month on that ...)
Brian: (domain registration is once per year)
Brian: (and, I guess it just ran out)
Etheric: (Evil, evil cybersquatters.)
Brian: (... and I don't have the money to renew it currently ...)
BethE: (Oh, reminds me. Last Friday was our 2 year anniversary of this game.)
Etheric: (Just give us the IP of your server and we'll bookmark it.)
DanteE: (Hello?)
Random_Nerd: (Yes?)
DanteE: (went quiet)
Brian: (... x_x ... I don't think I can get all the information I need ... x_x)
Etheric: (Don't stress over it just yet.)
Etheric: (Let's play.  :) )
DanteE: (Then again, panicking is aerobic)
Etheric: ( <.< )
Brian: (*sigh* ... the email switch never happened. *shakes fist at them*)
DanteE: OK, we go in and see what John's doing
BethE: (*popcorn*)
Brian: (excuse me for a few minutes)
Random_Nerd: When you show up, one of the symbolic guards in brightly colored archaic uniforms mentions, as an aside, that His Royal Majesty title title John title is not in at the moment.
BethE: (A question about the transmogrifier. Did it look cardboard-based?  :) )
DanteE: (huh?)
BethE: (I'm just trying to think about what to do when it's our turn.  :) )
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. That was with Carrie's Realm point, right?)
BethE: ( I think so.)
BethE: (Sorry to break into your stuff, Dante.)
DanteE: (Not you, RN)
DanteE: (what's with all the titles?
Random_Nerd: (Oh, kings of countries that have been along tend to accumulate titles, and people whose sole job is to be a physical manifestation of archaic pomp like to pile them on.)
Brian: (ok, back, I think...)
Random_Nerd: (I'm just cutting them both because they're probably boring and I can't bother thinking of some.)
DanteE: (Oh, shorthand for an actual title)
BethE: (King John, Protector of the Faith, Keeper of the Keys, Prince of Wales, Shiner of the Gold, etc. etc.)
Random_Nerd: (Yeah. Stuff like that.)
DanteE: (I'm soooo tempted to say "Tell him Sovereign Noble Prince of the @#%$%# Universe Dante, He Who Can Make Thee Soil Thine Armor Purely for Amusement would like to see him, mmmmmkay?")
DanteE: "Might I ask where he is?"
BethE: (It could be that he's just not there. He may be returning Sam's books.)
BethE: (And it's not like they'd lie to Bryan.  :) )
Random_Nerd: Ceremonial Guard who's not quite so fancy-talking: "I believe he's out doing some sort of baby-kissing handshaking thing at some veteran's group."
Random_Nerd: (True.)
Brian: (weren't we just going to the Vault?)
Brian: "Well, you can let him know when he's come back, that we're going to look at the Treasures in the Vault, see if we can figure some things out.
Brian: "
Random_Nerd: Fancier Talking Ceremonical Guard: "Which is to say, he's bestowing a knighthood on a highly decorated retired officer of our glorious army."
Random_Nerd: Fancy Guard swallows hard when Brian mentions that.
DanteE: (It's a protocol thing, don't want to barge into the vault without letting him know)
Random_Nerd: Fancy: "Can you, err... aren't those supposed to be... but on the other hand it's you... but still."

• Brian will leave and go toward the Vault
  

Random_Nerd: Less Fancy: "We'll pass that along."
DanteE: "Tell him we're investigating The Incident. He'll know what that means."
BethE: (Knock - like I told Laz...don't cause Plague and Pestilance upon the land, please?  :) )
Random_Nerd: The fancier talking guard seems vaguely more satisfied due to the Capital Letter.
DanteE: (Good, cuz we've got Loads of Those)
Random_Nerd: They open the door in a very well-practiced and stylish sort of way.
Random_Nerd: (Oh, and just for the record, if Brian didn't have Beloved they'd be a lot more uncertain about this.)
Brian: (well, yes)

• DanteE starts by checking what he can see from the doorway without going in
  

BethE: (Is this the door to the Vault or just the palace?)
DanteE: (d'oh...)
Random_Nerd: (palace.)

• Brian heads to the Vault.
  

Random_Nerd: (But it's just a few hallways to the Vault.)

• DanteE checks the place out with Sight and Mythic View
  

Random_Nerd: (Which place, the exterior of the Vault or the hallway, or what?)
DanteE: (the whole place. :)
DanteE: "What did Theresa tell you about what happened?"
Random_Nerd: It seems fairly empty. Only John and the serving staff live there full time, John's apparantly out, and the building is specifically designed so the people who work there can go from one place to another without being obvious.
Random_Nerd: You can hear and smell vague signs of cooking from the kitchen, and someone's playing a musical instrument one floor up, but it's fairly empty-seeming.
Random_Nerd: (Now, the kitchen isn't all that close, but Dante has some Aspect.)
Brian: "Um, I don't remember"
DanteE: "I'll walk you through it.
Random_Nerd: Nothing around is visibly miraculous, other than you guys.
DanteE: ("No, no, it's Anarchy in the _U.K._" :)
BethE: (We were a little busy afterwards. I think that she mostly said that thank God it's dead.  :) )
Random_Nerd: Someone slowly walks down a hall some ways away, dusting the frames of paintings.
DanteE: "Let's see, right after you and the viositing Nobles left...
DanteE: (are we alone here?)
Random_Nerd: (Pretty much.)
DanteE: "Theresa and I heard something _in_ the vault.
DanteE: "We had to convince John to let us in, and only after donning ritual robes and praying."
Random_Nerd: (Not that he could have actually stopped you, but still.)
BethE: (Theresa is nice.)
DanteE: (Which, here, is a character flaw)
BethE: (I know. *sigh* It's just so _easy_ to play nice, though.)
DanteE: "When we got in, she was on the other side of the vault...
DanteE: "After the usual witty banter pulled straight from a Batman episode the spear animated and impaled her."
Random_Nerd: (Holy relics, Batman!)
Brian: "And, so, what are we looking for, and why are we waiting out here?"
DanteE: "Whether there were any lasting effects...
DanteE: "aaaaaand we're waiting out here because of years worth of conditioning.
DanteE: (what kind of lock on the door?)
Random_Nerd: (There's a big deadbolt, but on the other hand, the key is over in the room over to the left where John keeps his fancy robes and incense.)
Random_Nerd: (You'd remember seeing it there from earlier.)
Random_Nerd: (And you know that there's an inner door and an outer one, and you can't unlock the inner one without locking the other one.)
Random_Nerd: (Well, I mean, with miracles or trickery or a screwdriver and some time you could, but it's designed to stop you from doing so.)
DanteE: (Brian, don't you have a miraculously tricky screwdriver?)
Random_Nerd: (Is it... sonic?)

• DanteE listens at the door.
  

DanteE: (Later I'll check for traps while Brian polishes his longsword.)
Random_Nerd: (No sounds of someone moving in. Or breathing, for that matter.)
DanteE: "Can you tell if there are any wards or other strangeness in there?"
Brian: "Not sure how I would"
DanteE: (Realm Divs)
Brian: (of what, though? I don't know what I'm looking for)
DanteE: (Actually, I've got one RMP...)
Random_Nerd: Dante, you hear someone running outside, towards the door.

• DanteE does a Realm Div of the condition of the vault room.
  

Random_Nerd: (The three major Treasures, as before, seem to have auctoriti of the usual size. Nothing other than them is there. The floor, where the Excrucian melted, seems to have been cleaned, scraped, and scoured at length.)
Random_Nerd: Someone is arguing with the guards outside about how they have to let him in.
DanteE: (any 'glitches' in the auctoriti--of the Spear in particular?)
Random_Nerd: (Nothing you can detect.)
DanteE: (and do we recognize the voice?)
Random_Nerd: (No. A guy. Amyran accent, adult.)
Random_Nerd: (Baritone.)
Brian: (Do I hear this?)
Random_Nerd: (No. Not high enough Aspect.)
Brian: (ok)
DanteE: "Hm. Someone wants in...
DanteE: "er... not here, out front."
Brian: "I'll check it out" *Brian heads to the door*
DanteE: (Actually... Ithink back to
DanteE: (Actually... I'll think back to the blessings and such that JOhn did when he let us in. What were they, essentially?)
Random_Nerd: (Lot of chanting in Latin. Prayers, mainly.)
Brian: (who's at the door?)
Random_Nerd: There's a somewhat upset-looking man at the door arguing that they have to let him in. When he sees Brian, he stops talking for a moment.
DanteE: (so, basically, 'Please Lord, we beseech thee not to kill us'?)
Brian: "Can I help you?"
Random_Nerd: "You're... you're that guy. Brian. One of those people that came and took the country away."
Brian: "Who are you? And why do these men 'need' to let you in?"
Random_Nerd: (Pretty much. And "We don't mean any disrespect, we're just here to make sure they're properly cared for, and so on.)
Random_Nerd: "This guy, this weird guy, told me I had to come here and tell you guys something. He... I guess he sort of threatened me if I didn't?"
Random_Nerd: "He said to say that he's..."
Random_Nerd: The guy squints and concentrates.

• DanteE suddenly thinks of something...
  

BethE: (Uh-oh...)
Random_Nerd: "That he's placed six traps in Amyra for you and yours. That he doesn't know where they were, but that you said that you wanted to know if he remembered anything like that."
BethE: (*facepalm*)

• DanteE heads out to Brian.
  

Random_Nerd: "He said that if I didn't tell you that... he said that he thought that maybe something would happen to my family. He said he wasn't quite sure, but he thought that I still might want to do it."
Brian: "Who told you this?"
Random_Nerd: "That weird indian-looking guy with the red suit."
Brian: (um?)
DanteE: "Message."
Random_Nerd: (And for the record, he didn't really look Indian to you guys.)
Brian: "Well. Crap."
DanteE: "Where did you find this guy?"
Random_Nerd: "He found me. I was walking down the street, about two blocks up, and he stopped by me and said that."
Random_Nerd: "I mean... is he going to hurt my kids?"

• DanteE checks him over with the Sight,,,
  

Random_Nerd: The guy's baseline human, near as you can tell.
Random_Nerd: Just looks dark and vague to the Sight. So, he's not a Noble, Shard, Anchor, and he hasn't had a major miracle done to him recently.
DanteE: "It's possible.
Random_Nerd: He turns to Brian. "You guys have to do something about it, please."
Random_Nerd: He's sweating, and looks like he's not used to sprinting two blocks.
DanteE: "Go home, check with your kids. If you see this guy again, call <the number of Lesson's group>."
DanteE: "Meanwhile, we'll go looking for that guy."
Random_Nerd: He nods.
Brian: "If you need help, just pray."
Brian: "We'll hear you."
Random_Nerd: He looks a little unnerved at that, but nods.
DanteE: (Not necessarily...)
Brian: (... flowers are just foci, right? Not needed?)
DanteE: "Er... you'd need to pray to Numbers or Courage, not the usual destination."
Random_Nerd: (Flowers are for if you want to block the Witch Hunt Rite a bit.)
DanteE: "It takes practice."
Random_Nerd: (They're not needed, they just make it harder to see who did the miracle and what they did.)
Random_Nerd: "I'll... I guess I'll do that. I should go home now, see if my kids are okay."
DanteE: "Which way was the guy?"
Random_Nerd: "Up the street that way."
Random_Nerd: He points.
DanteE: "OK. Go home. We've got this."
Random_Nerd: He nods, and starts running off, huffing and puffing.
DanteE: to Brian: "I didn't go in.
Brian: "So. I'll deal with the Vault, you handle the guy."
DanteE: "Right after you left I realized what she may have wanted...
DanteE: "... Access for her friends.
DanteE: "She wanted someone to _go in_."
Random_Nerd: (Interesting theory. Interesting indeed.)
DanteE: (Beth, can you translate that?)
BethE: (No, because he does that to me _all of the time_.  :) You don't even have the steepled hands and smirk.)
Random_Nerd: (Basically, whenever she suggests a theory about this sort of thing, I say "Hmm. Interesting." in exactly the same tone.)
Random_Nerd: (At least, if it's an interesting theory.)
DanteE: "Let's stick together and find the guy and those 6 traps."
BethE: (No matter what I said! Whether I'm right or wrong. Well, if I'm completely off base, he tells me so, but...)
DanteE: (You're lucky, then, cuz I suspect he lets me wander off track and right into a ditch)
Random_Nerd: (I try to point it out when you're working from a false assumption.)
Random_Nerd: (Put it this way. Your theory may or may not be the actual reason. But it's the sort of thing I'd be prone to think of for the reason.)
DanteE: "I did a Divination. Room has 3 fields, a well-cleaned spot in the corner, and nothing else."
Random_Nerd: (Oh, and on a side note. Since John's the only one who goes in there, clearly he's spent hours scrubbing that spot.)
DanteE: (Ah, almost forgot...)
Random_Nerd: (At least, unless the Excrucians broke in again, just to clean the floor.)
BethE: (I think Kudzu already used his one favor...)

• DanteE ghosts a message to the Heart: "Warning, gang. There's a guy in a red suit here who's threatening people, saying he's set 6 traps for us.
  

DanteE: "Watch your backs."
DanteE: (Brian, you there?)
Brian: (sort of. Not really.)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. Should we switch to Carrie and Theresa?)
Random_Nerd: (Or have the party meet up? Preferences?)
Brian: (switch is good)
DanteE: (Is Sara awake?)
BethE: (I think the Carrie/Theresa./Snow thing with Lesson might take a while, depending on what we find out about the transmogrifier.)
Random_Nerd: (I suspect she isn't.)
Random_Nerd: (Hmm. Or we could stop soon, I'm getting tired early tonight.)
BethE: (I'm okay with stopping here. It's a good dramatic cliff-hanger.)
DanteE: (Well, that'd mean the girls didn't play...)
Random_Nerd: (True. That's why I was asking if we should switch to them now.)
Random_Nerd: (What do you think, Etheric?)
DanteE: (... is it me or is this session remarkably ... disconnected? :)
BethE: (Feels that way. Like we're all lagged or not all there.)
Random_Nerd: (Any objections to stopping here?)
DanteE: (Looks liek we may have to)
BethE: (No objections from me.)
Random_Nerd: ______________STOP_______________
Random_Nerd: Okay, thoughts?

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

Knockwood: did you pull the guy and the traps out of your (censored)?
BethE: The traps setup is interesting! Why six, though...
Random_Nerd: Well, if I did, it was a while back.
Random_Nerd: I planned that about... last friday?
Random_Nerd: So, it wasn't a spontaneous thing, at least.

Chancel_Amyra
Chapter 9