William (#2330) has changed the GM of this room to William (#2330).

StevenE materializes in a burst of blackness as he teleports in from 
elsewhere in the MOO.

Jesdyn has made Jesdyn's local name Neil

StevenE has made StevenE's local name Ekur

Neil . o O ( Never got around to watching any Miami Vice episodes. Alas. 
)

fadethecat swings into the room on a bit of rigging.

fadethecat has made fadethecat's local name Thais

fadethecat has made fadethecat's local description A tall young woman 
with long black hair, dressed plainly and practically. Aside from the 
sparkly ribbons woven through her hair and around the belt and scabbard 
for the sword at her side.

Jesdyn has made Jesdyn's local description A non-descript man with 
calluses on his hands and a genuine halo floating over his head.

The GM says, "It has been a couple of months since Blandine's arrival, 
and it is now late 1986.  Her visit was marked by a great deal of 
anticipation that never came to pass, her inspections and visit being 
unannounced and quiet rather than ad the expected city landmarks.  Things 
quieted down considerably after she left, with most of the hopefuls 
leaving town."

The GM says, "A few stayed, and there are a few hundred more citizens in 
Civis these days.  Some of them are fairly active as citizens go, and 
there is talk in the streets of civic improvements, such as a subway or 
an el.  At present, Jack is vetoing attempts to erect skyscrapers, and 
Matthias is in agreement with him; lots of unoccupied space is inviting 
trouble."

The GM says, "A quick notion of some of the amenities now available in 
Civis:"

----------------------------------William--------------------------------
--

Ethereals' Quarter: Factory, the Bazaar of Civis, the sand garden, the 
University, the residential section, Temple, Bloom's Buddhist community 
center

Angels' Quarter: residential section, military bases, patrol stations, 
monotheist churches, administrative buildings

Shared: Factory historic district, main square, highways, mayor's mansion 
and City Hall, wilderness, boundaries

---------------------------------finished--------------------------------
--

The GM says, "By 'boundaries' I refer to the Bounding Range, the same 
moderately-sized hills that surrounded Radz when you first arrived"

The GM says, "As we begin, Ekur is in City Hall doing REMF stuff that 
need not be described, and the camera is on Neil and Thais cruising the 
city streets in the Judgmentmobile on patrol."

Arc 4: (no fancy title yet)

The GM says, "Simultaneously this morning Bloom and Jane both left word 
at the police station requesting visits from Thais and Neil, 
respectively."

The GM says, "Who's on first?"

Neil says, "I don't know..."

Neil says, "I'll take lead."

Thais can work with that.

Neil says, "The two of us are on our way to see Jane, then?"

Neil says, "Do we have any prior business that I know about that would 
make her need to see me?"

The GM says, "Not that you knew."

The GM says, "You head to the main square, then.  Jane, by virtue of her 
social position and long citizenship, now operates out of a plum 
storefront position facing Civis Square."

Neil drives to a parking space -- one good thing about pandimensional 
realms of human imagination, good parking -- and strolls into Jane's 
store with Thais.

Thais follows a step behind Neil, on general "watching his back" 
principles. Not that there have been many incidents of people leaping out 
of nowhere to backstab Mercurians recently, but you never know.

The GM says, "Inside the front lobby are a couple of pairs of merchants 
and customers awaiting her notary seal on a deal, and a small poster on 
the wall politicking yes for the subway.  Her receptionist, a very small 
monkeylike creature with a typewriter and horn-rimmed spectacles, looks 
up.  'Good morning!  Do you have an appointment with the Notary?'"

Neil says, "Neil and Thais, with Civis. She asked me to drop by."

The receptionist says, 'Oh, so I was told.  One moment.'  He scoots into 
the back office, where Jane calls out, 'Yes, yes, send them in,' and... a 
bit oddly... ushers two customers out, saying, 'Please pardon me, this 
won't be a minute.'  She beckons.  'Come in, come in.'

The GM says, "The two customers, a bit confused, clutch their papers and 
eye you two."

Thais strides on in with Neil, and nods politely to Jane upon entering.

Neil pings the two leaving out of habit, then enters her office.

skill 18 Resonance

You rolled 11 and Resonance - succeeded by 7.

skill 18 Resonance

You rolled 12 and Resonance - succeeded by 6.

Thais does a quick honor ping on Jane upon entering, out of much the same 
habit. It's always nice to know /before/ someone tells you a deep dark 
secret.

William [to Neil]: Couple of minor businessmen in the city you vaguely 
know.  Currently related to ecah other through a business transaction.

skill 17 Resonance

You rolled 10 and Resonance - succeeded by 7.

William [to Thais]: Jane believes herself to be *currently* involved in 
the most honorable act she has undertaken for a while.

fadethecat [to William]: Hmm. Nice to know.

Jane closes the door behind her, and looks a bit worriedly at you two.

Neil pings Jane as he greets her, and pays close attention to the 
word-resonance.

skill 18 Resonance

You rolled 12 and Resonance - succeeded by 6.

Neil . o O ( I just realized I don't think I've been asking for the 
Mercurian of Judgement information. )

William [to Neil]: You get all the social information you've come to 
expect from Jane.  Her most deviant behavior recently was lying about 
someone being in town when his creditor asked; this was about four months 
ago.

Jane says, "Someone's trying to mess with Civis."

Thais frowns slightly, and lets Neil take the lead on this, since he was 
the one Jane asked for.

Neil says, "'Mess with' how?"

Jane moves around behind her desk.  "I don't know who he was, he kept his 
face hidden.  I don't care about that.  But he was willing to pay me 
serious money for information on who the biggest debtors in town were."

Neil says, "Hmm."

Jane says, "Offered me ether-yen.  Hinted that if I were able to 
manipulate a few debts I could make better rewards."

Neil says, "How'd you reply, and what did he do then?"

Jane says, "I told him my information was confidential and not for sale.  
He tried again, mentioned that the rewards he could offer were the kind 
you couldn't get from working in Civis.  I'm guessing he meant he was 
working for someone with the mantle.  A god.  Maybe a Prince.  I doubt 
someone like that was working for an Archangel."

Thais's fingers move to tap lightly at her sword hilt. "Someone new, 
someone old..." she murmurs, more to herself than the other two.

Neil says, "Is it unusual for people to ask for that kind of 
information?"

Jane says, "I told him to get out, threatened to call the police and he 
just laughed."  She looks sad.  "He did this to my books."  She pulls 
open a drawer and pulls out a stack of books.  They've been shredded.  
"With a knife.  In seconds flat."

Jane sits down.  "Every now and then someone will ask for a bit of 
information.  Or try to break in.  They usually just try once, though."

Neil . o O ( All right. We're going to need some rare spices and some 
boot leather; we'll be conducting some blind testing sometime later in 
the arc. )

Thais leans forward to look over the shredded books.

Neil says, "What would you be able to do with that kind of information? 
Look for pawns to affect the city, I'm thinking?"

William [to Thais]: They're contracts Jane has witnessed in the past few 
years.  The first few pages of the top book have been painstakingly 
pieced back together.  The pages below are sliced haphazardly and 
thoroughly.

Jane nods.  "Lots of them.  There are plenty more debtors than creditors 
in Civis."

Thais's eyes turn sharper, but she says nothing, settling back into her 
usual straight-backed posture again.

Neil curses internally; he needs Ekur's auto-res.

Neil says, "Alright. Is there anything else you can tell me about him?"

Neil says, "Did he arrive on foot?"

Jane says, "On foot.  Heavy cloak, wide-brimmed hat.  Dark eyes, although 
that might have just been the shadow.  Nice voice, when he wasn't 
threatening me.  Knife was an artifact."

Neil says, "Did he make an appointment, or wait to see you?"

Jane says, "It was late evening hours; I had no appointments and the 
receptionist was off.  He walked in, sat down in the office before making 
the offer."

Neil says, "This was last night, then?"

Jane says, "Night before last.  I was considering my options yesterday.  
Hired the security, too."

Neil says, "What security?"

Jane smiles.  "Two of the customers out there aren't."

Thais smiles right back. "What an excellent idea."

Thais approves heartily of subtle security arrangements.

Jane nods her head.

Neil shakes his head. "I completely missed them. That should help a lot."


Jane widens her eyes.  "I would have thought an angel's resonance... oh, 
but it's only when you think to look, of course."

Thais says, "Security that people don't bother to examine in the first 
place... That's half the trick, right there." She adds, thoughtfully, 
"Easier to do in this city than some, of course, with how many different 
types of people there are."

Jane says, "Now, I'm not badly off but I don't have the resources to keep 
these guys on the payroll indefinitely.  Since it seems our goals are 
aligned, I hope you thoroughly eject the man from the city."

Thais smiles sharply. "I hold the same hope."

Neil says, "Yes. Jane, I really appreciate the warning. There's not much 
I can offer to help you right now, but we're going to look for him."

fadethecat [to William]: Hmm. Is it safe to assume Thais has some 
down-time between her assigned duties?

Neil . o O ( Does Civis have search warrants and rules thereof? And does 
Jane enjoy any immunity from them? )

Jane nods.  "All I can ask.  I hope you can locate him before whatever 
he's planning explodes."

William [to Jesdyn]: Nope.

William [to Neil]: Err, to the first.  No warrants required.

William [to Neil]: There are arrest warrants.  But refusing to let an 
angel of Judgment search for evidence is itself obstructing Judgment.

Neil says, "Hmm. To find him, we need to go where he's eventually going 
to go, and first."

Ekur . o O ( Oooh, good, so Divine Law resembles French Civil law instead 
of Anglo-American Common law.  Much easier for investigators in that 
case. )

Neil says, "I wouldn't ask you to lightly break a confidence, but can you 
point me to who he'd most quickly learn about from other sources? People 
whose debts are well-known or rumored?"

William [to Ekur]: Of course.  In fact, Divine Law is explicitly and 
canonically Napoleonic to the extent of putting the burden of proof on 
the accused.

Jane hmms.

Jesdyn [to William]: How well-known is this? Jane would /have/ to know 
it, I gave her my rulebook.

William [to Neil]: Oh, she would.

Jesdyn [to William]: Okay, just getting a handle on the law.

Jane says, "Well, the next place I might go is the well-known creditors.  
The rich men.  Yazz is one, Bloom has been doing very well for himself, 
Stonecarver the enchanter, and Foreman at Factory, I'd say."

Jane says, "They'd know who owes them, at least."

Thais loses her smile at the mention of Bloom. "We should check with them 
soon," she says.

Neil says, "I think you're right."

Neil says, "Jane, I really appreciate the warning, but yours wasn't the 
only call we've had today, and your list and mine is matching up."

Jane nods and stands up.  "I hope that's a good sign, then," she says.  
"For the speed of the investigation, that is."

Thais says, "I hope so as well. If this man should show up again... Do 
you have any way of alerting us quickly?"

Neil says, "Maybe so. Thanks for the quick warning."

Jane says, "Of course."

Thais bows lightly to Jane. "Thank you," she says, and looks to Neil, who 
does, after all, have the keys to the Judgmentmobile.

Jane says, "I know, of, one or two... dozen... locals with a song of 
Tongues.  And your names." 

Neil says, "That will do. Ekur is at the city center and might be able to 
respond faster than we could."

Jane says, "So noted."

Jane says, "Good luck."

Neil says, "You too."

Neil departs.

Jane collects her customers with profuse apologies, urgent previous 
business, you know how it is, etc.

Neil pings the two guards on the way out.

The GM says, "Brb, soda arrives!"

Thais moves /briskly/ towards the car. "Do you think it's someone we've 
encountered before?" she asks Neil quietly, once they're outside the 
office again. "I may be jumping at coincidences, but that sounds like the 
enemy to me, not just another ethereal."

Neil says, "Yes, the yen was a bad sign."

Thais says, "Plenty of people who would be interested in this city, from 
that side." She smiles faintly. "I'll have to speak to them about that. 
Pointedly."

Thais . o O ( I'm gonna get to stab demons again! Wheeeee! )

William [to Neil]: Two of the 'customers' have Anglo-Saxon names and 
estimate each other as decent fellows, two have Germanic names and 
estimate each other as 'would trust him with my life in a fight.'

Jesdyn [to William]: Awfully sorry to keep insisting on this one, but -- 
depravities?

William [to Neil]: The former, cheating the odd customer in a shady real 
estate deal.  The latter, bugging out from this or that merc job turning 
sour.

Ekur . o O ( Just remember what happened last time you tried to fight 
demons without me around! )

Neil . o O ( Yeah, we got /tons/ of XP. )

William  . o O (You know, a Merc of Judgment who every resonance sees the 
evil that people do... eventually, that could grate on someone.  Like 
Fire's attunements, really.  You have to have a lot of faith in the basic 
decency of the soul to keep going. )

Jesdyn [to William]: Perhaps, but it's no different for ordinary 
policemen -- a cop sees you, odds are you're currently, /right now/, 
having the absolute worst day of your life.

Jesdyn [to William]: You just accept that you see people at their worst.

The GM says, "Excellent point."

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: Yes, but it's going to be very hard to figure out 
what they may be up to until they've started it.

Neil says, "It might be a very long-term affair, although this doesn't -- 
aw, heck, what if Zorro is the decoy and they're running a long-term 
sleeper operation the right way?"

Neil says, "This job's going to make me paranoid..."

Neil drives them to Bloom's temple/community center.

The GM says, "One of the first buildings built in what used to be the 
sandy stretch that became the Ethereals' Quarter, the Buddhist shrine 
(and now Temple and Community Center) lays claim to a rolling stretch of 
xeriscaped sand gardens near the Bazaar of Civis.  There is plenty of 
room and the grounds are peaceful and quiet."

Neil . o O ( Is 'xeriscaped' what I /think/ it is? )

Ekur comments to some people at the office, "You know, I'm starting to 
miss struggling for my sanity in combat with dreamer-harassing demons.  
Sure, it was mind-numbingly repetitive, but unlike paperwork, you were 
allowed to stab the people making work for you."

The GM says, "Xeriscaping is lendscaping that, on Earth, would require 
very little water.  For example, one replaces a lawn with a rock garden, 
broadleaf ground cover with palmetto or cactus; in this case, 
multicolored gravel paths, boulders, rock sculptures, and sand gardens."

William <ooc> Out of curiosity, what did you think it was?

Neil . o O ( I was looking for "xeri" and only coming up with "xeno"; I 
thought it was a generic word to replace corporeal landscaping when you 
do it in the Marches. )

Neil follow Thais' lead on this one. He and Bloom... got off on the wrong 
foot.

William [to Thais]: Picture any church/community center you've seen.  
There's an atrium, a couple of large classroom or general purpose rooms, 
a sanctum in back, and a private garden, with Bloom's residence off to 
one side, all done in adobe and stonework.

The GM says, "Ping?"

Neil says, "Here."

Ekur is here.

The GM says, "Oh dead."

The GM says, "err.  Dear."

fadethecat runs off, saber waving, to swash some more buckles.

The GM says, "Mm.  Let's go on pause a few minutes and see if fade 
returns."

The GM says, "Actually, ha-ha!  I have a scene for Ekur which should help 
reglue the team together."

The GM says, "So let us switch the camera to Ekur for a bit."

Ekur continues REMFing while the camera moves.

The GM says, "Ekur, you and Jack are in Jack's study, discussing 
possibilities for mass transit.  (Subways not being a favorite of 
Matthias for a town this small yet.)  Jack has been gradually, to your 
resonance, getting more distracted."

The GM says, " (This is at the same time as Thais and Neil are en route 
to Bloom's temple. )"

Ekur says, "Jack?  Something bothering you?"

Jack blinks, becomes visibly tense, and stops talking.  The light coming 
in the room from the window suddenly dims.

fadethecat swings into the room on a bit of rigging.

fadethecat [to William]: Very sorry; wireless at the coffee shop cut out, 
and I had to walk back home. What did I miss?

William [to fadethecat]: Hmm, did you see much after "I'm gonna get to 
stab demons again."?

fadethecat [to William]: Nope, cut out right around then.

The GM says, "Okay, trying a pasteto."

[[[[[[[[[snnnnnnnnnnnnnnnip]]]]]]]]]]]]

The GM says, "Back with Ekur..."

fadethecat [to William]: Okay, caught up. Thankee.

Jack speaks through clenched teeth.  "Changing... city.  My... city..."

Ekur says, "Who?  Where?"

Jack raises a finger and points out the window.

The GM says, "Outside, where there had been a four-story office building 
across the street, blocking the light is now a featureless fifty-story 
skyscraper, antennae and blinking lights on top."

Ekur looks out the window in the indicated direction, then sends Matthias 
a quick CelTounges -  "Jack in pain.  Unauthorized skyscrapers being 
built.  Investigating."

Ekur heads for the building at full speed.

The GM says, "Outside there are several gawkers.  In the lower four 
floors, tenants who were in the building are leaning out windows, looking 
up, and wondering.  The ethereals who co-opped the place are looking up 
and arguing over whether this is a good thing or not; Jane, whose office 
was one of those on the bottom floor, is arguing not."

Ekur auto-rezzes around to see if anybody's got an emotion caused by 
performing the transformation, and asks Jane, "Do you know what just 
happened?"

Neil . o O ( "By the power vested in me by the Civis Zoning Board and the 
Archangel of Stone, I command you to immediately halt these unauthorized 
renovations and re-- this is stupid, I'm dreaming up a nuke." )

William [to Ekur]: No one you can see appears to have caused the 
transformation.

Ekur . o O ( Rats, that would have made it soooo easy. )

Jane shrugs.  "All of a sudden the building creaked like it had aged 
twenty years and I heard shouts from outside.  I come out, look up, and 
bam, the building has dodectupled in size."

Jane says, "Also, may I say, it looks hideous.  What are the blinking 
lights on the top for?"

Ekur says, "I don't know, though I've seen them in a few dreams.  Seems 
to be a standard feature."  He turns to the crowds.  "Did anyone just leg 
it out of this area really fast?"

A few people look around and think.  The shake their heads and shrug.  No 
one seems to bear you any animosity that might motivate their response.

Ekur turns back to Jane.  "Any suspicious people around lately?"

Jane says, "Oh, quite."  She looks around, developing a tinge of 
nervousness, which she hides.  "Most likely, at any rate.  Best ask your 
friends Thais and Neil."

Ekur nods.  "So you've talked to them?"

Jane says, with somewhat studied casualness, "They dropped by just this 
morning, yes."

Ekur [to William]: Resonance question -- how would Jane react if I asked 
her where they'd gone from here?

William [to Ekur]: She'd reply casually that she didn't know.

Ekur nods.  "Okay, thanks for your help."

Jane says, "Sure thing."

skill 16 Will

You rolled 14 and Will - succeeded by 2.

Jack appears at a window of City Hall.  With a noticeable effort, he 
sweeps his hand down across his view -- the skyscraper shimmers and 
vanishes.

"As the crowd considers this, you can't help but not that two more have 
sprung up in the Ethereals' Quarter about a mile away, and right next to 
each other.

The GM says, "As the crowd considers this, you can't help but notice that 
two more have sprung up in the Ethereals' Quarter about a mile away, and 
right next to each other."

Ekur steps around into a nearby alley, and burns a second Essence on 
CelTongues for the day, to Thais.  "Jane's place turned into a 
skyscraper.  Said you were investigating someone suspicious.  Where are 
you?"

William [to Ekur]: Skill roll.

StevenE [to William]: What's my skill with it?

William [to StevenE]: In the Marches, 14.

Ekur rolled 6 versus 14 and succeeded by 8.

William [to Thais]: Success.

fadethecat [to William]: Where/when am I when I get the message?

The GM says, "Outside the community center."

Thais stops, and turns to Neil. "Ekur says that Jane's office turned into 
a skyscraper. Not a good sign, but at least it gives us a hint of what 
might be going on. I'll let him know where we are."

Ekur is now headed for the second skyscraper-appearance.

Thais sends back a return message: "At the community center. Possible 
demon in the city. Call if you see one."

Neil nods. 

Thais rolled 11 versus 14 and succeeded by 3.

The GM says, "And Ekur has his second Essence back.  :^)"

The GM says, "It'll take Ekur a few minutes to get to the vicinity of the 
second appearance; Thais, Neil, your move."

fadethecat [to William]: Bloom has an office in here, right?

fadethecat [to William]: *reads back* Oh, right.

William [to fadethecat]: Yeah, this is his home, business, and place of 
worship.

Thais heads over to Bloom's residence to knock politely on the door.

You hear, "Just a moment," from inside, followed by soft foosteps.  After 
a bit, the door opens and Bloom regards you wearing a white robe that 
looks like someone reshaped a lab coat into a monk's garments -- which, 
come to think of it, might be its history.  He brightens.  "Thais!  Good 
to see you again.  Come in, come in."

He calls back, "Shoes at the door, please."

Neil pings Bloom's back as he removes his shoes.

Thais takes off her shoes promptly. "It's good to see you, as always. I 
should stop by more often." Her smile for him is entirely genuine.

The GM says, "Inside, the room is sparsely furnished.  There is a large 
woven tapestry containing a complex mandala on the wall in back, windows 
overlooking the rock garden and cityscape to your left, and a door to the 
community center in the wall to your right, surrounded with shelves on 
which a few curios and books are stored.  The books are basic artifacts, 
apparently."

skill 18 Resonance

You rolled 4 and Resonance - critically succeeded by 14.

Neil . o O ( STOP DOING THAT, GOD. )

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: But God /loves/ you!

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Or possibly Bloom. Hard to say.

StevenE [to Jesdyn]: <OOC> What?  Crit successes are good!

William [to Neil]: The resonance flows easily, Bloom has very little to 
hide.  He's working hismelf into a position of much note in Civis, 
offering fee-free his community center as a place of gathering and 
socialization.  Classes on Buddhist theology, Earthly Asian cultures, 
meditation, and songs of Healing are supporting a habit of buying copies 
of real Earth books to study, and making him quite respected.  He also is 
considered a more formal master to a smaller group of Ethereals.

Jesdyn [to StevenE]: No, they're not, because I don't have a crit 
success, I have the GM /telling me/ I have a crit success.

Jesdyn [to William]: Depravity?

William [to Neil]: Dream-eating.  A few figments, many, many years ago.

Thais waits for Bloom's explanation of what he wants to speak about, 
before going into what they've already learned.

Bloom pulls a small scroll off the shelf with the books.  "I've talked 
with Thais about this, but Neil, what do you know about dark Subsumers?"

Neil blinks. "Apparently, nothing."

Neil says, "But I know I don't like where this is going."

fadethecat [to William]: What do I know about dark Subsumers?

William [to fadethecat]: From conversations you've held with Bloom 
before, figure he's mentioned most of what he's about to say to Neil.

fadethecat [to William]: Oh, okay.

Bloom unties the scroll and lays it out on the table.  He unrolls it to 
show a symbolic description of reality: Earth on the right, Marches on 
the left, Heaven above, Hell below, Limbo in the middle, and a Buddhist 
swastika connecting them all.

Bloom says, "Subsumers believe we'll achieve stability and permanence by 
making our images Divine."  He moves his finger from the Marches to 
Heaven on the diagram.  "At least, those parts of our Images that deserve 
permanence.  Once Heaven wins the War all Images will be Divine."

Bloom says, "The argument works just as well if you think Hell is going 
to win the War, though.  It's very rare for an Ethereal to be both 
selfishly inclined and willing to adopt a foreign orthodoxy, but it 
happens every now and then."

Bloom traces the circle of the four worlds in the direction of the 
sun-cross' flow.  "Especially if you believe somehow that humans and 
ethereals desire different goals for the Universe.  Foolish.  But people 
believe odd things."

Bloom says, "One of my students recently has been discussing ideas like 
this.  I think he has adopted one of the Seven Infernal Paths.  I tried 
to dissuade him, but yesterday, matters came to a head.  His true master 
came to us here."

Thais looks up from the scroll. "Yesterday? When?"

Bloom looks up.  "Sunset."

Thais looks thoughtful, but doesn't interrupt further.

Bloom rolls the little scroll and puts it away.  "I don't know what 
manner of demon he was; he wore a mask and a long coat, though otherwise 
a human form.  He attempted to instill fear in me, though whether by Song 
or resonance of Nightmares or other power, I don't know."

Bloom turns to you.  "He tried to recruit my students.  He had several 
grunts with him.  They ransacked the office for papers of some kind, I 
don't know what."

Neil says, "That's... odd, actually."

Neil says, "He showed a notable contempt for documents I'd've thought 
would be much more valuable than temple accounts."

Bloom says, "He didn't seem to respect our papers much, either.  They 
didn't seem to find whatever it was they were looking for."

Neil says, "We think we've heard of this being earlier today."

Neil says, "Scary guy, wanted followers-or-information-leading-to, tore 
up a valuable book, departed on a sour note."

Neil says, "Did he make any specific threats?"

Neil says, "Can you remember any specific offers he made?"

Bloom says, "In a manner of speaking.  He warned us that Civis would have 
a new master soon. That it would be a new kind of metropolis.  Neo 
Metropolis, Neon Metropolis, something like that.  Rather contemptuous 
toward any sort of old philosophical system.  He and his people left."

Bloom says, "Sorry, I missed the part where he mentioned about people who 
opposed the new order being cast into the wilds to fend off the Tsayadim 
for themselves."

Thais folds her arms. "The problem is self-evident, the motivation 
is...not the most important factor, though it may be useful to know. The 
trick will be finding him to deal with the problem." She stares into the 
distance, frowning. "I'd bet dollars to buttons he's connected to the 
skyscraper someone threw up."

Neil . o O ( /Neon/ Metropolis? He could reform Civis to mimic Neon 
Genesis Evangelion? I'm calling the Seraphim Council, we're gonna need 
Uriel on this one. )

William [to Neil]: NGE hasn't been written yet.  1986.

William . o O (Oh, never mind, I get it.)

Neil says, "Actually, I think we're getting somewhere fast."

Thais looks to Neil. "Am I missing an obvious solution, here?"

Neil says, "We're dealing with an entity of the most modern times who's a 
fair hand at combat, threatens /exile/ but not immediate death to his 
enemies, and shells out APC currency."

William >ooc> APC?

Neil . o O ( August Prosperity Collective. )

William <ooc> Ah.

Neil says, "This is screaming Impudite demon of or heavily supported by 
Media or Nightmares."

Neil says, "Bloom, we're trying to track this guy down in a real hurry. 
Did he happen to say where right-thinking ethereals could come to join 
him once they changed their minds?"

Thais nods briefly. "I suspected something along those lines, yes, but 
right now I'm more concerned with the matter of finding him than his 
nature as such." Her mouth quirks. "I've dealt with Impudites before."

Bloom perks up a bit.  "Had other news of him, have you?"

Neil . o O ( And those Impudites have dealt with /you/ before, I'm 
grabbing Ekur before we go wherever he says to go. )

Bloom thinks.

Bloom says, "No, he didn't.  Headed into the basement system and went off 
somewhere south."

Neil says, "Basement system?"

Thais says, "We were just at another report of the same demon, yes." She 
pauses, and tilts a hand. "Or someone by the same description. It's 
possible there's more than one, but that seems...unlikely. A great outlay 
of resources for the project if they're doubling up on it."

Bloom says, "Yes, the thing with the basements."  He looks at you two.  
"Didn't the angels design it?  It's very convenient."

Jesdyn [to William]: Well -- do I know about a basement system?

William [to Neil]: Nope, this is the first you've heard of it.

Bloom leads you over into the community center, down a flight of stairs, 
and into the community center's basement.  He points to a few arches 
there, there, and there.

Bloom says, "People designing new buildings tend to interconnect their 
basements.  There's a whole pedestrian tunnel system down here under the 
streets."

Bloom says, "Folks might not have considered it important enough to 
comment on... I suppose by now the system could be quite extensive, at 
that."

Thais says, "Handy, if inconvenient when trying to figure out where 
someone's gone."

William  <ooc> I told you I could give you guys a dungeon crawl.  :^)

Neil says, "Oh, boy. No, we didn't design it. At least, if we did, nobody 
told me, and if I find some genius with Matthias came up with this 
without telling me his dissonance condition is /not exactly going to 
apply for very long/ if you get my drift."

Neil kicks the arch in disgust. "So if everyone but me knew about this, 
why is anyone campaigning for a subway?"

fadethecat [to William]: Mmmmmm. Dungeony.

Bloom raises a finger.  "Exactly my point.  Well, one of them at any 
rate.  But oh no, people have to have the latest and fastest amenities, 
shiny new subway systems like Moscow or New York."  He makes a very 
expressive "pfft" sound.

Thais pats Neil on the shoulder with the hand that /isn't/ apparently 
permanently attached to her sword hilt. "I didn't know about it," she 
says calmly. "We can ask Matthias about it later. But it does seem likely 
that who we're looking for has gone through here, which means we may have 
a chance of tracking them by following."

Neil makes a very strong note to have these closed down under Heaven's 
authority until such time as Matthias decides to emulate a city that 
/does/ have an underground pedestrian system, and if that city is San 
Franciso he can kill himself honorably then.

Bloom adds, "And there's a sewer system below this.  What do Ethereals 
need from sewers, you know?  It's only there because the rattier, 
night-ier kind of ethereals tend to like it dark and wet."  

Thais adds, quietly, "If I can touch him once I should be able to keep 
following him, at least for a time. But we need to find him first."

Neil says, "Should we look for backup?"

Thais says, "It's worth calling in Ekur if he's anywhere nearby."

Neil says, "I'm not looking forward to being objectively hosewhipped by 
Ekur again if we go haring off after demons without him..."

Neil sends a CelTongues to Ekur. "Potential demon trail (Impudite/Media? 
Nightmares) found. Want backup; you in?"

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Do we all have CelTongues? How unexpectedly 
practical of us.

skill 12 CelTongues

You rolled 12 and CelTongues - succeeded by 0.

The GM says, "And Ekur is now full of Essence again. :^)"

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: I mean, at least until Lightning finally shows up 
and installs the new prototype cellphone system.

William [to fadethecat]: It's like a combination shortwave radio and 
logistical distribution system, it's great

StevenE [to William]: Where am I in relation to the new skyscrapers when 
I get the message?

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: Any tech Lightning releases here is going to be 
in hostile Ethereal hands in -- what, minutes? You sure they're going to 
let that out of the bag so quick?

Neil will go pick up Ekur /very, very quickly/ in the Judgementmobile.

The GM says, "Ekur is, at the moment, outside the two new skyscrapers.  
These are about two blocks away from the Community Center, and in 
fact..."

skill 18 Perception

You rolled 15 and Perception - succeeded by 3.

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Okay, so we may have to wait a while until they 
key the new tech to be celestial-use-only...

The GM says, "..Ekur can actually hear the note of Disturbance the Song 
caused and realize where it's from, the Center."

Jesdyn [to William]: I'd /really/ have guess Disturbance would start to 
be a problem with this many people in such close quarters. Do none of 
them have Essence to toss around on CelTongues?

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Given that it's currency, and most ethereals 
can't hold as much as angels can, I'd imagine it wouldn't be as commonly 
used as we are right now.

StevenE [to Jesdyn]: There's a normal phone system, which makes more 
sense for day-to-day use than CelTounges.  It's only when something *big* 
is happening that it's worth Essence.

William [to Jesdyn]: Fortunately, Disturbance fades with time.  
Disturbance-pollution *is* a problem, though.

Ekur . o O ( But, yeah, CelPhones would be useful . . .  )

Ekur rolled 13 versus 14 and succeeded by 1.

Ekur sends Neil the message "Felt your disturbance, on my way."  And then 
runs to the community center.

Neil relays the message, and asks Thais how she plans to find our quarry.


William blinks, looks through the GURPS In Nomine rules, realizes there's 
no mechanic for the skill level inherent in a relic.

The GM says, "Oh, wait, yes there is.  It's with the Celestial Song of 
Artifacts."

Thais shrugs, looking at the entrance to the basement system. "Follow 
where he's gone. Look for signs. See if there are witnesses. If this 
fails, we plot out the places that have been hit, look for patterns. If 
it becomes too pronounced without good leads, we call out more watchers 
and start doing a systematic search of the area. But let's not escalate 
before we have to."

William [to Ekur]: As a note, the two skyscrapers near the community 
center had also had the street between them altered, to something 
resembling a modern city street with streetlamps, sewer manholes, and the 
like.  People were considering the phenomenon and discussing what was 
going on -- again, no one seemed to have caused the changes but one 
person, the landlord of a building that was changed, was happy it had 
happened.  He'd wanted more rental space and had been denied the 
expansion request.

Thais bounces once on her heels. She's wearing a resolute expression, but 
quite eager to go track and smite.

The GM says, "Okay, you're all together in the basement of the Civic 
Center.  Bloom says hi to Ekur."

Jesdyn [to William]: Is Tracking on my sheet? I don't have it to hand.

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Don't worry, Thais has Tracking.

William [to Neil]: Nope.

"Thais is the only one who has it, at 16.

The GM says, "Thais is the only one who has it, at 16."

Jesdyn [to StevenE]: What was that about skyscrapers?

Ekur says, "There have been several sudden transformations of buildings 
into modern skyscrapers.  Nobody on the surface apparently having any 
idea what happened or why."  He looks at the tunnel.  "This may well 
explain why.  Who made these?"

Bloom blushes.  "I did."

Bloom says, "Well, me and Joe.  And Cherise, and Kss'ik, who owns the 
barbershop over that way."  He points.  "We agreed to join our basements 
together to form a little network.  Show of unity."

Neil . o O ( Calm and collected. Calm and collected. If you kill him, he 
might actually turn into an angel and you don't have a triad handy 
that'll let you kill him again. )

Ekur stops to get his bearings, figure out which way down here would head 
back to the two new skyscrapers.

Neil says, "In... in the future, Bloom, please run these improvements by 
the zoning board? They could disrupt the experiment that forms Matthias' 
work."

Neil says, "How hard would these skyscrapers have been to form? Could one 
person have done it?"

Neil says, "More importantly, how hard will they be to fix?"

Bloom looks surprisedly at Neil.  "It *is* my own basement, Neil," he 
says mildly.

Neil replies, "It was your own basement, but now it's a public 
throughfare. You've changed the flow of people and goods through the 
city."

William [to Ekur]: If you have your orientations right, there's an arch 
leading to a small basement south, but not one to the west; the 
skyscrapers were southwest of here.

@emit Bloom says, "Well... yes."

Bloom says, "Well... yes."

Ekur says, "Depends on luck, skill, and power, but they aren't trivial 
changes.  Jack already reverted one of them, but it was difficult for 
him.  Hmmm.  I suggest we take the south tunnel, head for the last pair 
of skyscrapers and see if we find anyone in the area."

Ekur . o O ( More than a -5 to IN Dream-shaping skill for a change of 
that size, so . . .  )

Neil nods. Sounds good to him. "Bloom, we're going to go bash a demon, 
and the last time we tried that two of us almost got killed. You're 
welcome to come if you think you can help your student, but -- and stop 
me if you've heard this one before -- we may not be able to protect you."


Neil says, "Still, you're really looking stronger. Civis is agreeing with 
you."

Bloom looks thoughtfully down the tunnels.

Bloom says, "Allright, I will go with you.  I wish to have a say in the 
shape of my city.  And perhaps help out my student, if he was ever truly 
mine.  However, I should let you know that I no longer intend to raise my 
hand in violence.  I will shield myself if necessary, or flee, but I will 
not fight."

Bloom says, "This is a vow that I have taken in the last few years."

Thais nods, and says, "There is a place for...various responses, to 
problems. Violence is not for every being to take up."

William  <ooc> And since I need to perform some other tasks this evening, 
this feels like a good stopping point for the day.

StevenE has deleted all of their local references.

@clearlocal

Do you really want to clear all of the local names and descriptions? 
[Enter `yes' or `no']

yes

All local names and descriptions have been cleared.

Jesdyn stretches.

fadethecat mmm, dungeon crawl. MWAHAHAHAHA--ahem. It will be conducted in 
an honorable manner, no doubt.

The GM says, "I think I've only ever GM'ed something that could 
legitimately be called a dungeon crawl once or twice in my career.  :^)"

StevenE says, "Okay.  At least we aren't spread out over all of Creation.  
I can burn some Essence on summoning my weapons, and we can smack the 
enemy int whisps of dream!"

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: We're going to find them, resonate them in 
secret, and carefully monitor their discussion as a 35-man combined ops 
team swarms over them like lava over Twinkies.

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: We will then honorably pick over their 
possessions for saleable goods.

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Or, we could stab them honorably!

fadethecat says, "Thais is very in favor of the 'locate, resonate, smite 
with great smiting' form of dealing with a problem."

The GM says, "Hmm, does this mean I should remove the 10d6 damage traps 
with -20 to skill to detect and hair triggers?"

Jesdyn says, "Yeah, Neil? Not so much. Even in his Role he knew when to 
call in the SWAT team."

Jesdyn [to William]: Keep 'em, the Malakim don't care.

Jesdyn [to William]: Michael just makes them wear stupid hats for a week.


fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: ...on the ethereal? Methinks Thais cares quite a 
bit.

StevenE says, "Hey, I'm the only one with Rank around here, and I say we 
beat their asses flat, then call in the Ops team to do our looting for 
us!  I've gone years now without the chance to beat a demon to bits, and 
I don't care if it's an irrational emotional impulse--<CRACK>.  Aww, 
nuts.  I just wound up covered in body piercings and tatoos."

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: Oh, wait, that's right. I totally forgot.

StevenE says, "Well, I'm still an angel, and I say . . . ."

William [to StevenE]: Yeah, I'm assuming your comment earlier off-scene 
about paperwork was an objectively useful stress-modulating bit of humor 
for the group you were working with.  ;^)

Jesdyn [to StevenE]: "I went to the bar with an Elohite, got it drunk on 
tequila, went to the body-piercing parlor, and got it some ink while it 
slept it off." Find out what happened after that on "You Can't Show That 
In Heaven -- No, Really, You Can't, Judgment's Gonna Smite Us All".

William suspects new Habbalites still look like Elohites.

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Hee.

The GM says, "s/-tes/+m/ I should know better than that."

William [to Jesdyn]: Oh, that'd be *so mean*.  I want to see it done now.


fadethecat admires two plurals wrong at once!

The GM says, "Augh, Habbalah.  *sob*  My brain, it simmers slowly..."

The GM says, "Okay, that is a sign.  Seriously gotta get going.  Errands 
to run.  Good *night!*"