TheStarsAreRight:FirstNote
My records on this are a bit spotty, so the transitions may read oddly.
Henrik is up along with Rebecca when the rest of them arrive. He'll be curious what happened generally..."
Redland, sits at a table, waiting for the water to heat - "Hey, Henrik. Oh, thanks, yeah, I'm beat. What did you miss?" [glances around] "Eh, not much, frankly. Andrew appeared out of nowhere and he and Carl shot the breeze. Carl gave him a bottle of blood and/or 'aqua vitae' in exchange for assistance from the fey. Carl siphoned off some energy from me and John. Wasn't really that bad." [glances around again] "Carl did some of his boring chanting and then, seeming satisfied with this, stuck Auda's bloody branch into the ground. We then traipsed off to the faerie village (kind of a ramshackle affair if you ask me) and then we returned here... Probably more fun than dragging Auda's body through a dark and snowy forest, but, nevertheless, not exactly a hootenanny..."
His words wind down, and he pauses a bit, waiting for someone else to take up the thread.
Henrik brings over a couple of mugs, while Erich brews up the tea. "Interesting. I don't know what a houtenanney is, but I wasn't expecting either job to be 'fun'. My part was... fine." He looks a little guilty at that, and quickly goes on. "I'm curious of what these, ah, faeries are like, but it can wait until a morning."
Elwar sits nearby at the same table, taking in the conversation. Every so often he impatiently glances towards the stairs where Rebecca and Carl have vanished.
Tea is poured out for everyone, and a bit of bread.....and some cheese.....oh of course pass the fruit also! For such basic fare, it seems a feast, and all of you (with perhaps the exception of Henrik) find that you are ravenously hungry. Without plates or silverware, it's a little rough. Someone produces a small penknife to cut up some of the fruit, and hack the bread into reasonable chunks.
It doesn't take long until there's nothing but crumbs and cores, and the rind of the cheese. About the time a second round of tea is poured, and the chill of the night is gone, Carl and Rebecca come back down the stairs.
Carl looks worn, frayed a bit around the edges, and with a grateful sigh, drops into a chair at the table, and accepts a mug of tea that someone hands him. Rebecca leans against the service bar across the room, half-shadowed. Her face is a remote mask, body distant and contained.
Carl glances ruefully at the remains of the food, and while Erich rummages around to come up with something more, Elwar rises to go over to speak to Rebecca.
The two of them exchange a few words, and she makes a little gesture towards Redland, and a nod or two. Elwar seems satisfied with her answer, as he nods in return, and then comes back to take his place again at the table.
More food is found, and those who are still peckish can nibble a bit more. Carl takes a sip of tea, picks up a bit of fruit, and looks around the table at each of you.
Then, taking a deep breath in, begins to speak.
CARL
"It's late. Likely to be a long day tomorrow, so I heartily recommend everyone turn in and get some rest.
"Before that, however, I'd like to take a moment to talk to you all." Carl looks around the table, lingering a moment on each face. He toys a bit with a sheaf of papers in his hands before placing them on the table beside his plate.
"I have," he says quietly, "no real idea of why you're here. Tonight. With us. You have no stake in things, and -- forgive me please -- no reason to have one, unless it's a personal one we haven't discussed.
"Nonetheless..." He nods.
"Nonetheless, you are here. And if you are here, you are in harm's way, and there are quite a few things you ought to know.
"We'd be up all night if we wanted to cover them all, so let's just hit a few high points. Questions are welcome; let's keep them to the point. You'll get a lot of answers merely by tagging along; I want to ensure that you know enough to recognize what you see and to stay out of danger if there's trouble.
"So let me begin with the wild talk. The crazy assertions. I'll be happy to support the assertions later."
Carl raises one hand, ticking off each statement on one finger.
"One," he says flatly. "The world is going to Hell in a handbasket. Not in the usual sense of corroding morals, but in a more devastating way. The laws of nature are changing. Things are happening. People will die. Nations may collapse. Civilization might just be knocked back a thousand years, or worse; we may all become fodder or slaves.
"Two. The catastrophe cannot be avoided, but there are ways to lessen it. We're working on them -- a lot of us round the world -- including several national governments. Problem is, it's too little -- too late. Nature has Her own pace, and people will get hurt.
"Three. You've all heard some variant of the tale of the sailors on the island by now. What you may not have heard is that the island was a prison. A prison for a powerful creature -- person -- that I'll call the Island Lady. The Lady made a deal with those sailors. Because of that deal, they and their descendants have been working for centuries to free her, and ultimately, two years ago, they succeeded.
"Four. The folk we're about to see are not normal folk. Many of them have gifts beyond those of normal men and women. Call them psychic gifts, that will do for now. Some can bring forth a charismatic glamor that overpowers you, makes you want to believe and follow without question. Some can feel your emotions. Others can kill with a touch; a few get precognitive hints of the future. These gifts come from the Lady; she has them all.
"Five. We had a deal with the Lady and her ... spokeswoman ... Constance. They have an important role to play in the protection of the world, or at least the British Isles. Six months ago they were eager to help, ready to act. Something has changed."
Carl pauses for a moment to sip.
"Something has changed. I don't know what. The Lady and her Families have stopped talking to us, and seem to have turned aside from the greater good. I'm here to find out what has happened, and why, and if possible to bring them back into the fold.
"I would like to think that some outside influence is responsible -- that they have been misled, or turned in some way that we can fix. I have less and less hope of that, but haven't quite given up. Tomorrow, I suppose, we will know. Whether they are still friends and allies, or must be left alone in favor of greater threats ... or whether the Families and the Lady have themselves become a threat to the world that must be fought."
He sighs bitterly.
"I hope to God that last is not the case.
"Okay. Enough openers. Questions?"
REDLAND
Redland quickly responds:
"I understand that most talk of strategy can wait until morning... probably. The utilization of the leyline cannot have gone unnoticed. Are we safe to remain here now that our enemies... er, opposition or whatever we should call them... are aware of our presence. Should we keep some sort of watch? And will Henrik, John, Erik, and I be particularly vulnerable to these psychic gifts if we are the ones to remain on watch duty?"
CARL
Carl seems gratified at the direct approach.
"Good questions. I don't regard -- I don't *want* to regard -- the Families as enemies, but at the same time, I don't know what they themselves think at this point. And you're right, they know we're here and they, or at least the Lady, is very aware of the change in the ley. You're familiar with leylines, then?
"The second answer is yes. While I don't expect visitors, we may get them anyway, so someone ought to be alert. We need to be up and about in less than seven hours; no more than an hour each, it's bad enough as it is.
"As for vulnerability, I don't believe any of us is invulnerable. The biggest danger is being caught unawares by the Foundry glamour -- which is why you needed to know. Now you do." he smiles grimly.
ELWAR
Thanks Rob I didn't get the original e-mail!
Elwar leans forward and studies his shoes. After a moment he straightens up and looks at Carl and responds.
"Mr. Ellis your explanation just begs more questions. What is it exactly that is causing the world to change as you describe? What could possibly change the laws of nature?"
He stands and begins to pace slowly around the table.
"In what way will this creature you call the Lady provide protection against this threat? How do you hope to stand against men with such gifts as you describe? Will you intone some form of arcane rite that protects us? Or are the weapons you all carry sufficient? And in accepting our help.....yes I know, freely given, how do allow us to proceed essentially defenseless against these forces that you seem to know so well? And what of Auda and his mad dash to the lair of this thing? Was he himself or afflicted with some sort of glamour? And if he was himself what action do propose the next time you are indisposed.....give him a knock to the head?"
He begins to feel dizzy. Elwar sits down, a sense of dread and foreboding building in him, he adds.
"And I won't even begin to ask about the rites you perform and the energies you manipulate. I'll save that for a later time."
CARL
"I'll have to be a later time, I'm afraid. The answers are rather lengthy. But," Carl raises his eyebrows, "if you're interested in doing a bit of reading while on watch, you might find some of the answers in here." He pats the papers on the table in front of him. "These were written up last year for some folks in America, but they still apply today.
"My plan, coming here, was first to see for myself what was happening; secondly, to try to talk Constance round -- or, if she'd been influenced by something malign, to try to break its hold on her -- and thirdly, to see to the safety of a good friend's son who was being raised here. Auda and Rebecca travel with me because they are familiar with the place and its people, and because we are all, " he shrugs, "training together. Together we make a team strong enough to stand up to the Lady if need be.
"What I have learned so far is that Peter, the boy, is gone, taken away from here by his mother; this solves one immediate problem, though it raises another. I also see no sign that Constance or the Lady have been subjected to any external influence. My course then is to try my best to remind them of promises made -- too see if they will keep them -- and if not, to see what can be done to ensure that at if they are not part of the solution, at least they do not become part of the problem."
Carl looks tired, suddenly.
"Auda's approach tends to be more extreme than mine. I don't know what he would have done, but I doubt I would have liked it much.
"These people are friends, John. They were. I have no interest in "standing against" them. I want us all to stand together as we have done before.
"If that is no longer possible -- it will be a tragedy." He purses his lips, grieving at the thought.
ELWAR
Elwar picks up the papers from the table and leafs through them.
"I understand. I apologize for being a bit terse with you Mr. Ellis....events have left me unnerved. My questions still stand though, but will wait for a later time."
He looks about the room.
"Does anyone want that last piece of cheddar?"
REDLAND
Redland takes in what has been said, filing away much of it to ponder on at a later time. "Ah, sure, I'm still a bit peckish." He leans over and snags the last slice of cheddar.
"I certainly don't want to keep anyone up later than need be, so I'll reserve as many questions as I can for later. However, given that we are looking to leave in 7 hours, and given everyone's state, I would recommend that Auda not take any part of the watch. Though we've all had a tough day, his may be the roughest. I would also be happy to take an extended watch to allow others to rest longer. (Well, happy may not be the exact term...) I presume my skills, such as they are, will be less relevant to the... encounter... to come, and as such, my fatigue will not impair our ability to succeed.
I am pleased that we will be attempting persuasion to achieve our goals. However, if it comes to negotiation, I have always found it to better to negotiate from a position of strength. From my current vantage, we are assuredly not in this position... I suppose that is a concern for tomorrow, though."
Redland sits back down and munches thoughtfully on the cheddar he has pilfered from the hungry John Elwar.
CARL
"We are not without resources," Carl shrugs, "though I admit that we're on Constance's home ground and hers are superior ... here. But we didn't come here for a massacre. Unless something truly bizarre occurs, if we remain estranged, I expect we should simply leave, and plan for another day.
"Auda would say I'm too soft. I try to look at a bigger picture. The one thing I will not allow is for them to cut themselves off entirely from the world. That would create a ... hole." He snorts. "It would be bad."
ELWAR
Elwar stares at the empty plate and laughs. Maybe a little too hard.
"You're a good man Redland and fast on the uptake. If you know what I mean. I'll take the watch after Redland if need be."
HENRIK
Henrik looks up from where he had been sitting quietly, "Well, but tragedies do happen in this world regardless of our hopes - perhaps even more now than in the past."
"We," he says, nodding particularly to Jack and John, "don't know the Lady or the people of Bailey -- and we probably won't be so important for convincing them. However, we all have an interest in the well-being of our world, and if there is a danger despite our hopes, we would like to be prepared to defend it."
CARL
Carl nods. "Fair enough. The Families are just people, Henrik. People with a belief and a god that happens to walk the Earth in mortal form, and gives them real, measurable gifts. They'd follow her anywhere -- so it's her we need to convince.
"As for the danger ... suffice to say that what's happening is akin to the thinning of the skin of a fruit. We -- the world and its peoples -- are the juicy stuff inside. As the skin thins, or even breaks, the wasps and beetles outside smell it, and come to feed on now-easy pickings.
"In better times it might have been possible to thicken the skin, but it's too late for that for several reasons -- so we who have been working on things have tried to shore things up by enlisting the aid of groups, like the Lady's, who are psychically powerful and capable of holding their own and reinforcing that skin -- and of fighting off the things that break through anyway. No one big answer, but lots of smaller ones, each with a domain they hold, and an agreement with the others to work together where more global help is needed.
"In this case, much of the British Isles might have been theirs -- but the real need is for their unique strengths to work in combined forces to patch the really big holes when they occur. without them, the isles may be moer vulnerable -- but so are we all."
CARL
"So. To particulars, and then to bed -- unless there are any other questions I can answer in a sentence or two.
"Constance Talmadge. The Lady speaks through her, and she and the Lady might as well be considered one person. Left a career in Hollywood to come here. She can be quite charming and charismatic in her own right, and the Lady's glamour doesn't hurt. Also well known as a hard-partying wild thing and in some ways quite selfish and self-centered; nonetheless she's always been a friend to me and has happily worked with the cause before.
"If you read the packets, you'll see that the, ah, skin of the fruit sometimes breaks open and things come through in places where the leys and the local ambient energies have grown weak or stopped. That happened here last year. A lot of my associates worked with the Families to fight back a bad incursion that could have left this valley lifeless. One of my worries has been that this current sea-change is due to something that happened then, or something left behind.
"Connie's husband -- can't recall his name now --" (Jan, failed my remember roll, LOL) " used to be a rancher, lived somewhere in Canada as I recall. Rumors from Bailey, from the Fae and from a few Family folk who still talk to me, are that he "has gone to the temple." What that means isn't clear -- he may not be alive any more, may have been sacrificed in some way. It's also possible that it may have been his choice and his doing.
"The five Families and their traits. Family names have all gotten mixed about over the generations, but if you see a Roth, it means they have the empathy; the Foundries have the glamour; Wellmans are the soldiers, they're rare; the Kentworths are the mystics and sensitives, and the Garnsleys -- also rare -- sometimes get foretellings of the future.
"Frances Kentworth, she's the records keeper for the town, and used to be the chief priestess I suppose. Nice lady, kind of quiet.
"Grace Turner, she's a onetime friend, but her husband Eric, a Wellman, was killed on a trip to China with Auda and me a few months ago. It was a bad business. They have a daughter named Alison. Grace knows our business well, but has little sympathy for the cause since her husband's death. Friends say she's lost interest in life.
"And that's all I can think of to say at this point. Your turn."
He settles back, sipping his tea.
REDLAND
Redland, attracted by the lure of the shiny, beautiful documents, takes in the remainder of what Carl is saying, but decides to allow Carl to go to bed so that he can begin perusing this new source of information. If anyone else speaks, he will listen, but his attention may be divided.
ELWAR
John Elwar looks at the apple on the plate and then loses his appetite.
"Thank you and goodnight Mr. Ellis."
CARL
Hi all,
I'd like to continue the scene and get as far as we can in email. Since no one else has said anything for a few days, I assume conversation lags. In that case ....
Carl looks around the group for a moment. No one else speaks, so Carl nods.
"Very well, Professor, the watch is yours. Wake me if anyone comes looking, or if anything unusual occurs. An hour and a half, no more. Mister Elwar, Herr Mueller, may I impose upon you to take the watches following? Then Erich, if you please. That should take us through."
Carl stands, looking around for comments or objections.
If (and only if) there are none, Carl steps back from the table with a tired sigh. "Thank you all," he says, "very much.
"Her Mueller," he adds, with a nod at Henrik, "will you walk with me a moment? I'd like to have a word.
"The rest of you - please -- get some sleep. Tomorrow may be busy."
HENRIK
Henrik will nod in acknowledgement to taking the third shift, and (if no one else interrupts) moves to speak privately with Carl as he asked.
ELSEWHERE
REBECCA
Rebecca waits until you are both settled into the chairs, offers you some more tea -- though you may be pretty tired of it by this time.
She is wearing her "all business" attitude, though not hostile, she's definately focused and directed on the discussion at hand.
Elwar leans forward, and rattles off his list of questions in short order -
"Rebecca, What are the energies being manipulated by Ellis? How has he come to know how to harness these energies? Is this magic? Are the Fey men? Or something other than mankind? Please describe! If guns are of no use why do you and Auda carry so many? Have you had occasion to use guns for your own defense? If so what were the circumstances? Carl has mentioned Ponic Flux, Hyperborean Phrasing and Ley Lines. What do these terms mean?"
She waits until you take a breath, and then holds up a hand, with a faint smile . . . "Wait . . . wait . . .slow down a little . . ."
John falls silent, looking a bit chagrined at his own outburst.
"There are answers to all of these questions, maybe not answers that make sense, or seem realistic . . ." she makes a little shrug as if to say it doesn't matter to her whether you believe the answers or not. "but -- I'm not an expert on everything. I can tell you what I know - and maybe send you to someone else who knows what I don't. And some of what you're asking I probably can't answer in as much detail as you like , because we have to sleep sometime."
A little pause as she looks at both of you, "Doesn't mean I won't answer you . . . just means that the explaination will take longer than we have right now."
For a moment she looks down at the fire, gathering her thoughts. The flickering shadows make her look younger, and oddly vulnernable. Then with a drawn in breath, she turns her attention back to the two of you.
"Some of this Jack and I've been talking about, already . . . There are a couple of different . .. ah . . . 'flavors' of energy that Carl uses. It's all basically the same stuff, it all just has different signatures to it." She glances over to Jack, as if he should know what "signature" means.
"According to Carl, everything in the world produces this energy in some amount, even rocks." she makes a little noise, indiciative of what she thinks about the rock theory - - - not much apparently.
"Think of it as a sort of electricity that the body, and other things, generate inside themselves. The energy, when you understand how it works and what it's laws are, can be used to effect things around you."
She takes a moment to sip at her tea, which is sitting on the mantle.
"Is it magic?", another one of those shoulder shrugs. "I suppose you could call it that. I've grown up with it all my life, so I don't think about it that way. Carl would cringe if he heard that word thrown around, because he's spent a long time figuring out what it's rules are. I expect that a before there was any sort of means of scientific testing, that magic is the word people used to explain it. " she thinks about this for a bit, before going on.
"But magic is just a word. Just like Ponic Flux, or Ley Lines . . . it's a way of describing something, but describing it, doesn't always give any sort of understanding.
"As for how Carl learned about it . . . I don't know, that was before I met him, so you'd have to ask him about that. But I do know that anyone can learn to use this energy - to a greater or lesser degree - by practice."
She turns to stir the fire, which has burned down a bit, then back to face you both again.
"The Fae.", and there is a world of pent up dislike and disgust in those two words. She shakes her head. "I'm not the one to ask if you want a neutral opinion on them . . . or even an unbiased opinion about them. I don't consider them men or even remotely human. There's others that say that they are . . . just different from us . . . Carl will tell you that they're part of the world and we need to extend them at least tolerance, because they're going to be allies." You can tell from her body language and voice that she's never going to be buying into Carl's viewpoint on this.
"My feeling is that The Fae are just as bad as the Outside Things . . . they're just a little lower on my priority list right now than the larger things that we're fighting against. I don't know the inner most details about the Fae . . . I don't need to. I know how to assess them as an enemy, and that's enough for what I need to do." Her voice has become a bit sharper, and more flat as she talks about them. Then she softens a little.
"Look - you've got to make up your own mind about them, everyone knows how I feel - I'm not the only one who has had to deal with them. And my viewpoint isn't the only one to listen to." The mini-rant about the Fae has darkened her mood, and she seems more tired and edgy now.
"Guns. You asked about guns."she makes a small, mirthless laugh. "Well - it's true. They're not much good against the really huge, Outside Things. But they work really well against any human bodies that are helping them. Sometimes breaking the concentration of someone who is talking to an Evil Dark Thing with a bullet is the easiest way of hampering It. Or buying time for Carl and the others to do what they need to do uninterrupted.
"Have I killed people? Yes." the admission sounds so strange coming from this slip of a girl. "Both with guns, and with the energy we've been talking about. I'm not going to make any apologies for doing what was the right thing at the time." She closes off that subject fairly firmly - and you understand that at least for right now, she's not going to elaborate on the circumstances.
"Ponic Flux . .. it's a term to describe the energy. Basically energy moving around. Carl uses the word Ponic as a catch-all phrase when he refers to it. You'll hear me call it Power, the Spanish that we work with call it Essence. Hyperborean . . . it's a language of some kind. It's suppose to be pretty old, I guess . . . I'm not sure where Carl learned it, or what he uses it for. You'd have to ask him about that part."
She closes her eyes for a moment, looking suddenly very tired. The opens them again to resume her talk.
"And Ley Lines. Those are like creek beds where the natural energy . . . Carl would say the Ponic Energy . .. of the world flows, kind of like the veins that carry blood through the body. Sometimes those flows . . .flux . . ." a little smile at using Carl's words, "get cut off, or blocked or misused. When they do, it's a huge problem, as well as indicating something that's pretty large, or very knowledgable, or very huge. You can't manipulate the Ley Lines very easily - they're too big and powerful.
"You can sometimes draw energy out of them if you need to - but I wouldn't reccomend it. It's like getting sucked under by a huge tidal wave. It can pull you out of your body, and kill you flat in about 2 seconds if you aren't strong enough, or skilled enough.
"Ley Lines run mostly straight, and are powerful enough to barrel through just about anything. So when Carl opened up that Ley Line, and it stopped at the Church, instead of going straight through . . . that's a problem. It means that something inside the Church is damming or bottling up, or using up that energy faster than it can move."
A thoughtful pause. "Yeah. I don't know why the Ley wasn't working before Carl did what he did. But whatever is going on in that church . . . it's a real problem."
The clock on a shelf near the bar chimes . . . she's been talking nearly non-stop for an hour, and is begining to run down.
