William says, "Last game, you had just defeated White Smoke remarkably quickly, aided by some surprisingly effective Dream-Shaping that removed his greatest strength, the camouflage he had so carefully worked out." William says, "You're currently inside the factory-style building in the northwest part of Radz. Last you knew, the militias had engaged in the town close on south of here. White Smoke has just discorporated into Trauma somewhere in the Domain." Arc 2: The Natives are Restless Neil says, "Head around to the back of White Smoke's lines, or slip back around and tell Jack we won?" Bloom says, "Some Domains have different rules on the matter, but now that the previous Master is in Trauma, Jack -- or whoever -- should have automatically ascended to the post." Thais says, "I suppose that does take care of getting a message to him. Though I can sing him any other message we want to make sure reaches him immediately." Ekur says, "I would suggest we make contact with Jack as soon as reasonably possible, now that White Smoke is defeated." William says, "The flood of bubbling liquid subsides and drains away below you." Neil [to William]: We're here to scout only -- do we have authority to negotiate for Heaven, or do we need to call in Civis staff? William [to Jesdyn]: As you say, you're scouts. You know what you've been told by Matthias and Dominic, but that's it; any negotiation you do would have to be contingent on their approval. William says, "-their +Matthias', most likely." Thais nods to Ekur. "I do have Celestial Tongues. I could send him a message immediately, if you don't think it can wait until we find him outside." William [to Neil]: If you report in, you can, of course, request further guidelines. Bloom says, "Jack? He was with the force in Cluster South, right?" Ekur says, "Ah, I don't think contact needs to be quite that fast; we can go in person. And then, of course, we'll need to inform Matthias about what has happened."" Neil says, "Should we search the factory for any evidence or documents, first?" Ekur looks over at Neil. "Evidence or documents of what?" Thais blinks. "...do you think that ethereal would have been...keeping records?" Neil says, "Not really, but... well..." Neil shrugs. "Force of habit." William says, "You hear the sound of a motorized caravan driving up outside." Ekur heads for a window, and peers out, with some effort not to be seen by those outside. Neil slinks away from any windows, and Dreams his wings away. William [to Ekur]: Yazz is driving up with Jack in his frankenvehicle, followed by a couple of other cars. Thais lets her own black wings disappear. Better not to spook the locals. Ekur resumes the vessel-like form he was using, and says, "Well, that's convenient. Jack is here." William says, "Dreaming rolls all around, at -3." [rolls made, passed, no crits] William says, "You're all back to normal." William says, "The caravan pauses outside and Jack calls out, 'You blokes still alive?'" Ekur moves to the door, and steps outside. "Yeah, we're fine." Neil follows. Thais tucks her sword back into its sheath, and follows. "Naturally," she says. Jack says, "Good on yer. We've got maybe 5 on either side what are dancing on the cliff right now. Not counting their boss." Neil asks Jack, "Has the Domain recognized you as a Master yet?" Jack says, "Yep, happened I assume right when you offed White Smoke. Many thanks." You notice that Jack is apparently no longer sporting his Discordant discoloration, though he still leans on a cane. Jack says, "We've got a few prisoners now... not sure what to do with 'em, we never had a civil war before. Usually somebody gets taken in a raid or something we give 'em a whoopin' and send 'em home." Ekur turns his auto-Resonance on Jack. William [to Ekur]: Elated at victory, satisfied with the current state of affairs, a bit of plotting going on beneath the surface. Need anything predicted? StevenE [to William]: Reaction to reminder of the deal? William [to Ekur]: Acknowledgement and beginning of negotiations. Ekur says, "Well, if you have the situation in hand, it's probably best if we contact our superiors, and inform them of the local situation." Jack says, "Yeah, I understand. Right now we need to get our intellectuals and some Essence together, work at cleaning out the radiation background. Stop the damage. Probably take a few days." Neil says, "We can help with that." Jack says, "If ye like. We can use all the boost we can get." He looks at the four of you. "After that, we'll need to discuss future plans." Ekur nods. Bloom says, "I can help as well. If they're going to contact their Superiors, I can't follow them there anyway." Jack waits a bit, then nods and says, "All right. Well, we're gathering in Central tonight, after the news is spread. Be there if you want." He turns back to Yazz. Neil CelTongues Matthias. "Radz stable. Negotiations soon. Send negotiator or authorize us ASAP." Ekur turns to his companions. "As I see it, we have two choices. Send Matthias a message by Song and stay here and assist, or we can immediately return to give a full report. Choice?" Ekur . o O ( Okay, decision made. ) William says, "The party of vehicles heads off." Thais says, "Send a message to see if we need to go give a full report, I imagine." Neil . o O ( Sorry. I was waiting for decisive action or a check against it... ) Neil says, "Well, we could head back and just turn around, or call Matthias and see what he wants done. He can always tell us to come home." William [to Neil]: You immediately get the response, "Neil, I don't know CelTongues. This is a borrowed relic. Return to report fully." Neil says, "... and he'd like us to come on home." William As a general organizational matter, CelTongues is good for pithy factoids and 'nothing to report' but poor for delivering full debriefings. Neil . o O ( We'd better find a better means of communication than this. Probably need to stop off at the Vale or Lightning before we return here. ) Neil says, "Well, we'd better find Jack." Ekur nods. "Yes, and then we should head back relatively quickly. The sooner Heaven is filled in, the sooner it can start negotiations . . . and those negotiations will probably be easier the less settled the status quo is here." Bloom says, "I can deliver the message if you like. I can't visit Heaven -- yet, anyway. Expect you back in one, two nights at most?" Thais says, "I would think that would be enough time. And we can always contact you easily enough if there are delays, now that we've met." Ekur nods. Bloom nods at Thais' point. Ekur says, "Neil, anything to add? Or shall we head home?" Neil says, "Just our apologies that we can't stay to help. I wish I'd asked that one of us be able to stay, but Matthias said report /fully/." Neil shakes Bloom's hand and thanks him for his help. Bloom says, "I'll be in Central, as they call it. I'll try to be obvious. See you when you return." He heads off. Ekur starts for the nearest edge of the Domain. "Well, hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to Heaven we go." William By the way, Neil, if you really want to stay for the duration, you could CelTongue and ask him -- he can probably get the Relic back quickly. [msg'ing snipped] William On the other hand, from a meta note, it is splitting up the party. Thais says, in a faintly disappointed voice, "I'd expected more...well. More physical conflict, really." Neil turns to Thais. "Cheer up. We may meet those Hunger spirits again, and this time we're not venturing into the unknown. Ekur says, "Well. Maybe we'll be ambushed on the way back." William [to Ekur]: AK (Marches) roll. [rolling snipped] Thais smiles hopefully. "You really think so?" Ekur says, "Never can tell. We might even stumble across one of Beleth's hunting parties." Neil says, "Well -- hold on a second." Neil sends a second CelTongue to Matthias. "Request permission; Neil stays, Ekur and Thais return and report. Important." Matthias quickly responds via the relic, "Fine with me." William Neil will be offscreen doing general goodwill-generating work until you get back. We'll cover that briefly upon your return. William says, "As for Ekur and Thais: the trip back to Heaven, as Ekur knows from experience, is always smoother than the way out. You quickly reach the border of Blandine's Vale, and are approached by a patrol of Laurence's Guardians in full 'uniform' -- celestial appearance, a Seraph and a Malakite." StevenE [to William]: Do I know either of them? [rolling snipped] William [to Ekur]: Nope, neither of you do. They look fairly young, as angels go, and a certain fuzziness arond the edges suggests the Malakite has never had a Vessel. Thais defers to Ekur, who has more experience in these sorts of things. William says, "They come from over a rolling hill as the land begins to dip down toward the Vale. 'Hold!' calls the Malakite in Angelic. 'Who approaches the Vale of Dreams?'" Ekur says, "Hi. Ekur of Dreams, Thais of the Sword, returning to Heaven from an assignment for the Civis project." [rolling snipped] William says, "'Confirmed,' says the Seraph." William says, "'Enter and welcome, brethren,' says the Malakite." Ekur nods to the guardians, and heads on forward. William says, "The remainder of the trip is uneventful and you soon find yourself in the Catacombs in front of Matthias." Thais follows along, not quite bouncily. Reporting on the completion of a real mission for the first time. What fun! Ekur says, "Good thing they had a Seraph. Once in a while, you get, say, a Cherub and an Ofanite, and they can't confirm anything quickly . . . " Thais says, "That must make border crossings complicated." Ekur says, "Occasionally. It only usually happens when something big is going on, that leaves the guard short-staffed." Matthias maneuvers some papers on his desk and picks up your background information. "Please tell your friend I apologize for not being able to return his call earlier. Bit of a lapse in a otherwise well-rounded education, I suppose. Now then: you've twice mentioned a Domain called Radz? I have no records on it." Ekur says, "It is apparently new. I had a tip that it was new enough it didn't have a Master yet; somewhat unfortunately, the tip was slightly out-of-date." Matthias listens. Ekur says, "Instead, it had been grabbed by an entity that was inflicting Discord on the resident Ethereals, who were organizing a rebellion. The leader of the rebels, whom we assisted, is at least willing to discuss having Radz host the Civis project." Ekur says, "His recommendations are that we leave him as Master, to prevent usurpations by other Ethereals, and that he'll only go along if the residents agree." Ekur pauses. Matthias says, "...populated. Hmm. That would make things delicate; one of the reasons we asked for an unpopulated Domain was that we had no desire to evict anyone. The urban-planning experiments will require shifting population around and re-shaping the city grid on a regular basis." Ekur says, "Well, it was just the first one we reached. We've got a couple other leads, and we've just barely started. Neil is currently trying to build further goodwill toward us in Radz." Thais says, "He seems a...well. Reasonably honorable sort. I think that if an empty Domain can't be found, this one at least has a population we can reason with, even if they ultimately won't agree." Matthias says, "Ah, so you trust this Master. That was something I intended to ask. A natural Domain could be Masterless, but a created Domain would require a Master if there were any ethereals in it at all." Matthias says, "Is the Discord-infliction a permanent characteristic of the Domain? That would immediately rule it out as a candidate." He sifts through reports. "Our only other viable candidate so far is a living Domain itself, which isn't the nicest option either..." Thais frowns. "I'm not /entirely/ sure that I trust him. He's proven himself trustworthy so far, and open to reason, but we've also been assisting him in something he wanted. But I believe there's the possibility, at least." Ekur says, "The Discord apparently was specifically tied to the previous Master; the reason for the rebellion was the Ethereals wanted it to end." Ekur says, "I know the new Master is no longer manifesting the symptoms of the discord, for what it's worth." Matthis says, "Mm. Be awfully convenient to cure Discord like that. Might have been a simple icon alteration. Normally an icon doesn't *have* to declare one's Discord at all." Matthias says, "What do you intend to do about the referendum?" Ekur says, "Hmmm, we weren't there long enough to know if the warping of the Domain was permanent or not. Hmm. Thais, could you contact Neil and see if he still sees the strange aura in the Domain he originally saw?" Ekur kicks lag. Thais nods, and tosses off a quick message to Neil. /Is the Domain still displaying that strange aura you noticed when we entered?/ Ekur says, "Well, I thought a campaign based on one part gratitude for Heaven's role in getting rid of the usurper, one part on the benefits of having angels around to prevent new usurpers." [rolling snipped] Neil scans for the aura. William [to Neil]: Still twitching at your Attunement. As you're asked this, it's approaching evening and Jack has sent messengers from Central to the other towns; the best dreamers in the Domain are gathering to try cleaning it out. William [to Neil]: The change in icons has occurred because White Smoke had enforced as a law of the Domain that one's marking (Discord) must be displayed on any icon. Jack has repealed that, which has already endeared him to a number of citizens. Ekur says, "And, well, if necessary, there are less above-board ways to influence elections, if that would serve the Symphony best." Ekur . o O ( Elohite through-and-through. ) Matthias twitches a corner of his mouth upward for a moment. "Yes." Neil CelTongues a reply. "Yes. Will try to knock it out tomorrow morning." Thais says, "Sir, Neil tells me that the problem is still there, but they'll be trying to remove it tomorrow morning." Matthias says, "Well, if it works...." Thais says, "I imagine he'll tell us once that's resolved, either way." Matthias thinks. "Have they asked you for any other assistance? There's only so much we can promise." Ekur . o O ( Is there anything I should be remembering to mention at this point? ) [rolling snipped] Thais says, "I believe assisstance in defending the Domain from other hostile intruders is at least assumed, sir." William [to Ekur]: You wanted to know the limits or your negotiating authority, IIRC. Ekur says, "I can't think of anything else that they have requested, but they might make further requests. If you send us back, we'll need to know how much accommodation we can make." Matthias says to Thais, "Intruders hostile to Heaven, yes. The Seraphim Council compromised on what we could offer ethereals: any benefits that accrue to them are to be the passive benefits of Heavenly presence. We will settle in the Domain, adjudicate laws and trade with Heaven, keep it safe and free of demonic influence, and the like. We'll still be keeping the Ethereals away from humans, and we'll need to reshape the Domain from time to time." Matthias says, "I think it's safe to allow you to use your best judgment based on that principle: we won't outright pay for anything, but we'll grandfather in property claims and debts that aren't hideously unJust, and we'll keep the place as safe and clean as we can for law-abiding citizens." Ekur nods. Thais frowns slightly. "If we did take on control of the Domain, then, would we be prohibited from stopping intruders who wished to harm ethereal inhabitants while leaving celestials alone? There...are some I could think of, who might try that." Matthias says to Thais, "You mean Tsayadim." Thais says, "It does rather spring to mind, sir." Neil . o O ( I've got instructions from Dominic on that, but I didn't share them. Oops. ) Matthias grows serious and says, "There is a group in Stone that you may have heard of, called the Diamantine Brotherhood. They're similar to Tsayadim in some respects. They've absented themselves from our company for the time being." He recovers. "And so do Tsayadim. The law for Outcasts is that they stay away from angels in good standing until they're ready to return to the fold." Matthias says, "If Tsayadim attacked the ethereals that lived in Civis, I would regard that as an attack on the city, and would seek to have them ejected. Everyone on the Seraphim Council is positive we'd much rather matters not come to that head." Thais says, "Thank you, sir. I appreciate the clarification." Ekur stands, impassively, giving no hint of his emotions. William . o O (Tell us the players, though!) Ekur . o O ( Well, he would have reacted with extensive distaste to the mention of Outcasts. Halfway to Hell, all of them, traitors, and the Tsayadim worst of the lot, harassing innocent dreams and making them into nightmares . . . ) Matthias says, "Very well then. I think that should be a sufficient guideline for the moment. You also asked for information on Domains called Selkirk and Roxburgh..." he fiddles with papers. "...The last report from an angel of Dreams indicated the both of them completely bare of any life, and developing a distasteful caul consisting of a bloody swamp. No activity noted over the course of several hours." Ekur says, "Hmm. Well, if truly uninhabited, they might be a better choice than Radz. One wonders what nasty suprises lurk there, of course." Ekur says, "We were told something about 'Black Oaths' infesting them, but no certainty as to whether they are Ethereals, Infernals, or perhaps even Outcasts." Matthias says "No information on that. Sounds nasty. You may, of course, explore it if you'd like a second candidate. Whatever you feel is the best use of your time. Site-selection will probably last several more weeks at least." Ekur nods. "Is there any other assistance of which we can be here, or shall we return to Radz?" Matthias puts the papers away. "Not that I can think of. Keep up the good work and let me know how the referendum goes. I won't be able to respond so quickly in the future, but if it's urgent I can check out a relic again." Ekur nods and turns, pausing a bit if Thais has anything to add. Thais bows briefly. "I'll send word if anything changes, of course." William says, "Okay. You're heading out on your own this time, trying to get back to a Domain where you've been once for a few hours. No doubt Ekur's still doing the lead navigation: roll it." StevenE has made StevenE's local description A tall, typically androgynous Elohite. [rolling snipped] William says, "As you leave Blandine's Tower, evening strikes for demons in the Marches. A shadowy haze falls over the Far Marches for a moment, leaving Blandine's side of the Vale an island of light." Thais wonders if hostile spirits will be more likely to attack two travelers than a group of four. It seems a reasonable bet. William says, "About halfway to Radz, you do have an encounter, but it is not a hunting party. A lone human(-oid?) is wandering vaguely, but does not notice you in the mists. You can choose whether to continue on your mission or turn aside to address him." Ekur stops. "Thais, stop. We may have stumbles across a lost dreamer." Ekur approaches the figure. William By the way, Neil, as a Mercurian you might like to check out http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/login/article.html?id=3492 for ideas. Ruleset's a bit complex, but there are plenty of ways to do stuff. Thais nods, and follows Ekur. William [to Ekur]: He becomes aware of you and turns. He's a young Latino man, a bit on the skinny side. His eyes widen. "Extranjero!" [rolling snipped] William [to Ekur]: You recognize the Spanish for "alien!" William [to Thais]: You, of course, do not speak this human language. Thais is cheerfully clueless, but intrigued. Ekur responds, "No, I am an angel. And who are you?" William [to Ekur]: He replies, "Angel... Dios mio." He crosses himself. "Mi nombre es Rafael Turan, Bendecido." ("Angel... my god. My name is Rafael Turan, Blessed One.") Neil . o O ( Err. /Wow/. I'm going to have to reread that thing a couple times. ) StevenE [to William]: Can I tell for certain if it's a human, and not something that just looks like one? William [to Ekur]: He pauses. "Err... Es usted el alma de un extranjero? Usted no parece humano. Los extranjeros van al cielo tambien?" ("Are you the soul of an alien? You don't look human. Do aliens go to Heaven too?") William [to Ekur]: Your resonance tells you that he's a little frightened by your appearance but very curious and growingly excited. Thais pings for honor, to be on the safe side. He eyes Thais. "Usted parece humano, aunque. Clase de bastante, de hecho." [rolling snipped] Thais blinks, and looks to the Elohite for translation. StevenE [to William]: What's he say to her? Ekur says, "Angels take many forms, especially in the realm of dreams. And you are, unfortunately, in a wild and dangerous place in the dreamlands at the moment. You should follow us, to safety." William [to Ekur]: "You look human, though. Actually, kind of pretty." Ekur says, to Thais, "Slight delay. We should take this one back to the Vale. And he thinks you look human, and are pretty." William [to Thais]: A pattern of honor and dishonor based on a macho concept of manhood. Currently revising estimates of recent dishonorable actions to include neglecting the Church. fadethecat [to William]: Hee. William [to Ekur]: In what language do you say that? Thais eyes the man. "Yes, let's. And perhaps on the way back you can explain to him the need to spend more time in church." StevenE [to William]: Hmm. Both bits in Angelic. He expresses some understanding. "Es un sueno..." "It's a dream..." You pick up a little disappointment, but he's still moved by the night. William says, "It is subjectively a matter of a few minutes to lead him back to the Vale." William says, "He tentatively attempts to flirt with Thais a couple of times on the way." Ekur looks for an angel on dream-patrol duty to entrust Rafael to. Thais completely fails to understand the attempts, not entirely because of the language barrier. William says, "One's easy to find, and you hand him off. He goes willingly, and is ensconced in his dreamscape by the time you're back out of the Vale. This has set you back a bit on time, but only perhaps a few hours. Time wends its markerless way through the mists, and Blandine's tower sings dawn again at the moment you step on to the border of Radz." William says, "During this time, Neil has been hanging around with a slowly-growing crowd of Radz' brawniest brains, gathering on the steps of a dais in the town square in Central." Ekur heads toward Central, to meet up with Neil. William [to Neil]: Any particular working of the crowd you've been doing? Neil says, "Not sure. Just bringing peace and order. Making it obvious that non-hostile angels are very useful to have around. " Neil says, "Mostly meeting everyone and learning something about them." Neil says, "Also learning about population densities, best place to put the city, any -- do the Marches even /have/ natural resources?" Ekur upon reaching Neil, asks for who to see about the attempt to remove the Intrusive Domain feature. William [to Ekur]: Gimme a minute, Neil has asked a lot of very good questions. William says, "Meeting and greeting: your Resonance points out to you a couple of the well-respected members of the community: many of them have joined this effort. Central and Easterly both have enchanters of talismans, who are relatively wealthy in Radz' economy of favors. Yazz, from Cluster, is cheered, and each town has a witnesser of those favors, a sort of notary public, who's well trusted. And, of course, there's Jack." William says, "The cities -- Southgate, Central, Easterly, Cluster South, and Cluster West -- all have about 20 - 40 people, and no one lives in the sandy wastes between to anyone's knowledge. A few people live near Factory." William says, "Factory is Radz' main 'natural resource': when properly manned and operating, occasionally generates a stupid but obedient figment with an affinity for Speed. They need an Essence refill every now and then to remain stable, but allow quick transport. Some of these are the vehicles people have been driving." William says, "White Smoke's takeover of Factory as a residence annoyed a lot of people." William says, "Okay. As for recent events since Ekur and Thais left...." Neil . o O ( Jack will certainly want to maintain control of Factory, which is acceptable; Heaven doesn't really need toon cars right now. No reason we couldn't maintain multiple encampments in the sandy wastes between each town, and possibly absorb one city completely. ) William says, "Jack's basic idea was to collect and blow a lot of Essence trying to dream-shape Radz as clean of fallout, in the hopes that this would echo through the Young Domain and remove the mutation Discord. This was scheduled for midnight, right after the Ethereals were to regain their Essence for the day." William [to Neil]: Care to donate, stand back and watch, help in any way I haven't thought of? Neil says, "I'll certainly join in the effort; I could spend a couple Essence on it, I think." William says, "Your contribution is noted. Let me make a few rolls here..." roll 3d6-10 On 3d6-10, you rolled 0. Neil winces. William says, "No no, 0 is good." William says, "Sort of." William says, "Jack collects the Essence, stands on the dais in the middle of the town and tries it. The first attempt clears the local area of radiation, making it a safe zone to inhabit, but doesn't echo throughout the Domain. Still it's proof of concept, and people are happy. The group decides to travel to Southgate to try again." roll 3d6-10 On 3d6-10, you rolled 0. William says, "wait, maybe I'm rolling wrong." roll 3d6-10 On 3d6-10, you rolled 2. William says, "Ah, nope." William says, "In the town where you first met Jack, the same result occurs. If this is the best people can get, they're willing to take it, since if they can just clear the towns that should at least be good enough for them." Neil . o O ( Interesting. A win for them, really -- no irritating radiation AND no irritating angelic presence. ) William [to Neil]: Jack eyes you, no doubt with this very thought in mind, but collects the group to move on to Easterly to continue. roll 3d6-10 On 3d6-10, you rolled 2. roll 3d6-10 On 3d6-10, you rolled 1. roll 3d6-10 On 3d6-10, you rolled 1. roll 3d6-10 On 3d6-10, you rolled 2. roll 3d6-10 On 3d6-10, you rolled 0. William says, "Would 3d6-10 ever report a negative value?" fadethecat [to William]: Don't know. Jesdyn [to William]: Beginning to suspect not. Jesdyn [to William]: At least one of those should have been negative. Ekur rolled 3d6-18 and got -12. Neil says, "... or not." Neil . o O ( If Salem was an AA we could get this taken care of. Of course, he might not make AA until after we're done here. ) Ekur . o O ( Well. If Radz isn't usable, we go somewhere else, with a favor owed us by the ruler of the Domain to cash in later. ) William says, "By the end of the night, people are running out of Essence and the group has made the full tour. It has been half-successful, clearing the mutations from Central, Southgate, and the Factory area, but not from the other towns. The citizens are tired and ready to disperse for a while, but the mood is generally supporting of trying again later. It is at this juncture that dawn occurs and Ekur and Thais return to Central." William says, "Let us begin against this background next week, shall we?" Ekur says, "Okay." Neil says, "Sounds good." William says, "Err. Two weeks, next session." William says, "The next session will be heavy on the politicking, and so there will be some downtime. If you want to spend points on anything that needs study time, let me know." Thais nods. William says, "See y'all then."