Scene #7111: *Wicked Northern Masques-2

Owner	Pose
Bloody Revelations	Apparently accepting Gawain's rather bald faced and slightly silly deal, the outstandingly boring priestess, who only finally gives her name at the end, Nerah, agrees to show he and Song of Rainbows to her temple to discuss things. Since she expects it to be busy in not long, however, and there are certain protocols about inviting strangers inside, she invites them to arrive after sunset, when people have gone home and the temple will be closed, so they can be unbothered by potential visitors. Also she really has eyes for that cozy scarf of sparks, though she's too polite and demure to really directly ask for it. It's cold up in the North, obviously. This works out well for All-Seeing Eye, who'd reserved an inn out by the docks of Wallport, the sub-town adjoined to Whitewall by the five hundred mile Travelers Road that runs south from it, and an equal amount of underground aqueduct that might as well just be called a river, emptying out into the sea. He'd intended to stake it out at night, after all. It also works out just perfectly for Staren and Tomoe, because, pieces slowly fitting together and stars aligning, this temple turns out to be the well-kept but empty one they'd been investigating, with its own mysterious power source, or at least complete non-interactivity from the small remaining portion of Whitewall's ancient power grid, which Tamamo had found from the massive temple-manse at the center. As for Tamamo herself, probably for her part in fixing the esoteric, inexplicable damage, she hasn't been kicked out overnight, though whatever mysterious force or stranger had opened its doors to her hasn't gone out of its way to make itself obvious. Even at sunset, the inside remains just as gleamingly bright and warm, its windows glowing inward as if it were still midday outside. There's a lot of space to wander, and a lot of nasty, currently deactivated, death traps between strange monuments, giant crystal orreries, gold and silver conduits, geomantic designs on marble, and occasionally things that look like a lab here, a workshop there, a study over there, filled with rectangular slabs of diamond in metal frames instead of books, and bits and pieces of jade, semi-liquid silver, and gold beyond gold that glimmers like fire, instead of functional materials for building machines. On All-Seeing Eye's part, things are less interesting. Nothing of note goes on for a while, save that Wallport doesn't seem to sleep at night, having ships cast off across the Inland Sea at only a somewhat reduced rate when lanterns and bells are required, navigating by the lighthouse. It's only his remote recon of the waterways under Whitewall that turns up anything particular; someone has somehow gotten a pair of horses and hooded trade wagon into the largest of the waterways, where the paths and tunnels are wide enough to support them. Though it's loaded up, nobody is home at the moment, and the various squatters see no need to steal from it.
Bloody Revelations	At the temple itself, Nerah welcomes people in with an archetypal polite, gracious meekness, but the slice of illumination cast on the streets from her holding the door open only lasts as long as it takes the last person to get across the threshold, where she then quite emphatically closes it, locks it, and then flips several deadbolts and chairs, apparently having already drawn the curtains tight. There is a fireplace blazing away, but there is no wood on it, obviously warming the small, bare, well-kept church by magical means, same as its dimmed indoor lighting from tiny crystals, and quite probably how all of the flowers still look perfectly fresh. Pretty much immediately, she pulls up a chair, turns it backwards, drops into it, folds her arms over the back, and changes demeanors completely. Her local accent disappearing entirely, she starts straight away with, "Okay, nobody can hear us here. The walls are soundproofed and the windows are covered with privacy veils. So! Out with it already! That's a Fairy item, yeah? You know full well there are Fair Folk around these parts. What in the hells are you doing strutting around wearing that? Crowing about looking for a bride no less!"
Staren	Staren returns, his clothes shifted into something local. He nods politely to Nerah and extends a hand to shake. "Staren Wiremu. Nice to meet you." He looks concerned as she uses an awful lot of locks to seal them in. "What's all that for?" If she provides a satisfactory answer, he puts on some goggles to start tracking the essence flow. Nerah completely changing demeanor is... interesting, but others will ask any question he can think of and do it better. So for now he'll focus on tracking the essence.
Gawain	As they meet twelve hours later, Gawain enters the church, blinks a few times at Nerah, and then blinks more when she changes her demeanor entirely. While he has questions for her, it'd be no good to ignore hers first. "Well! I am trying to lure out fairies, of course, so that I can stop the kidnapping of children. My acquaintance, a probable expert on fairies, gave me that advice." He's too earnest. Gawain hasn't even thought of the possibility that Nerah is a bad person, or if he has, he's not letting it stop him. "It seems to have only upset people, for which I apologize, but you must be willing to make a fool of yourself in life to make a difference!" And then, as he steps around the room, Gawain hmms, and finally, turns back to Nerah. "So, who are you? You're not a simple priest, are you? Your accent's fake, after all!"
Tina Natsumi	After taking a few wrong turns here and there, Tina finally arrives in the city of Whitewall to join the investigation! Although she's lacking in a fair bit of information about the Fair Folk and what's been discovered thus far, the gears are already turning in her head as she steps into the church with the rest of the assembled crew. Thankfully, her phone's recording gets turned off when she notices all those deadbolts and locks getting shifted into place. "Sounds like some of us-" She smirks at Gawain. "-might've planned on being bait for these Fair Folk, yeah. Y'know, get their attention, maybe get taken to the belly of the beast, find out where our VIPs are. But if they're lookin' primarily at kids rather than..." She gestures at Gawain with her head vaguely. "Him, then... Hrm." The faux cowgirl takes her hat off to rub her head uncomfortably. She's not feeling too cold between that and the poofy bomber jacket, at least. "Don't really like the idea of using /them/ as bait, but we might as well put that on the table just to get a headcount on how many of us are against it." A beat, and then she holds up a finger. "One nay from me. But... Uh. You mentioned someone trying to get hitched to them? Are these Fair Folk that desperate to tie the knot?"
All-Seeing Eye	Eye smiles warmly, pretending to read his book. He turns the page. He can see the words, but his attention is wholly on the horses and the wagon. This little charade continues until he sees a change in scenery. That'll get him out of his comfortable seat, and get that book out of his hands. The moment he suspects the owner is arriving, Eye puts out the fire in his inn room's hearth and leaves. With that same quietly pleased smile, the Alchemical exits the inn, slipping on his ushanka just as he crosses the threshold. There, he'll wait and watch. If at any point it seems like the wagon will take off, he takes off, too--on the hoverbike which just unfolded from his outstretched, gloved hands like a sliding tile puzzle from hell.
Damocles	Damocles hates standing in line. Waiting around for hours behind Lorbo the Turnip Farmer and Mashahash the Drunk-Handed when he could have just teleported past the stupid door and already done the THING he is there to do always irks that vein of impatience in Damocles, because there is a lot to do and waiting in line is, by definition, doing absolutely nothing. However, he was politely informed that the local might not appreciate the 10 foot tall dark sorcerer appearing in the middle of their town in a puff of hellfire, and that they were, in fact, quite touchy about that sort of thing. So he waited in line to go though the 'proper channels'. He was a little unsure he'd actually be able to set foot inside the city, warded as the rumors say that it is against creatures of Chaos, but he came through just fine. He IS human, Chaos is just his job. "Hey, victory for humanity!" he says with a sly smirk as he passes through the threshold. "Ooo, funny," the a quiet whisper in the back of his mind is his only response. "They didn't appreciate your attempted wit, I'm afraid." Thanks, whisper of Chaos. I got that. Guided by information provided when he agreed to show here, Damocles makes his way through the city at the proper time. He tries to avoid people until it's time to get to the meeting, though. For some reason, you can explain to people all day long not to judge a book by its cover, but when you're wearing skulls as part of your work clothes, people just jump to conclusions. When it comes time, Damocles approaches the church. Hood up, his face is obscured save for eyes which glow an ominous violet. It really doesn't help his overall image problem. It also doesn't help that he doesn't know anyone here. 'You have to put yourself out there to make new friends!' mom used to say. Mom would be so proud right now. Except for the Chaos Sorcerer thing. She probably wouldn't approve of that. He stops at the entrance, and nods his head slightly. However, obscured as it is by his hood, it only makes him appear to loom large and silent for a second before he finally speaks, offering in a deep baritone, "I am Damocles, Scholar of magic. I was told my expertise might be of some use here."
Tomoe	The find in the temple had proved enlightening to Tomoe it helped make some things make more sense to her. Also, it seemed the rest of the people investigating this mess had also turned up some things too. There was some time to rest after that Tomoe would be meeting up with everyone else about twelve hours later. She falls in a bit after Gawain arrives as she pauses at Nerah for a moment and she looks at Gawain for a moment then to Nerah. "Gawain? What have you been up to?" She's just kind not sure what to think there then she looks to Nerah. She notices the local accent is gone on top of their security measures. "I'd like to also ask just what's up with all this as well." Then Damocles fins his way in she looks at him for a moment feeling very short and she sizes the man up. He's a wizard sort all right but something just leaves her uneasy, she, however, chalks it up to nerves over the fae. "If I would take a guess you are a magic expert?"
Tamamo	Tamamo responds to the odd issue of torn geometry, in the middle of her geomantic efforts, with concern and surprise, but ultimately triumphs over the problem. The floor is mended. The power of the place is restored, and here she remains, as does her curiosity over the specific mechanism that allowed her inside, and what remains further up the tower. She explores. She spends long on that exploration. The night brings drowsiness, even if she might push through with necessity, but being in a place full of sun-aspected energy makes it remarkably easier to keep going, even without any imminent danger... outside of the uncertainty as to when the fae may next strike. Yes, she should be keeping that in mind. It is unclear how this may help, but it's too much to just leave be. This place is just too well-suited to her. She spends her time picking her way around troublingly effective-looking traps, studying astrological models of this alien world, tracing interconnected designs with her eyes, and turning over diamond 'books.' Each color of jade takes a bit of study, pondering and running minute traces of power through it, analyzing the materials for some later purpose. She takes some small, discarded pieces that fit these unspoken requirements, putting it all together into a small pouch. The odd silver is left almost entirely alone, while the gold deserves greater attention, excitedly working it under her fingers. Yes, she would need the tools, but the possibilities...! Along the way, and regularly, she directs her attention toward finding anything 'active' within the place, itself, looking for some trace of its power being used to feed into a device within its own walls, or else something that is independently powered, straining her tall ears and using her magic without concern for what might find her in the process. Given the choice, she proceeds inwards and upwards, as this must surely be the path to the heart of a place that draws power of any Sun.
Bloody Revelations	"So nobody comes listening. Duh." Nehra says to Staren, after all the locks. Slapping on his goggles, he can in fact trace the Essence flows powering the bare basics of ancient accoutrements; the First Age equivalent of a cast iron boiler and gas lamps. Though the conduits that are meant to channel it from the ground are present, that energy only goes in and out again. The energy in the cozy temple seems to come from somewhere behind the altar, inside the building. This time, she smiles at Gawain, and it isn't particularly demure or well-hidden. "You should probably be glad you couldn't possibly be fined for disturbing public peace, but, well, it was funny! Besides, tracking down Raksha is a noble cause! In fact, that's exactly what I'm up to!" Unpinning her hair and shaking her head as if trying to dry it out, Nerah's features change considerably in the space of a second. For one, she grows about two inches, though for extra, her skin pales, her hair turns brown-blonde, and her eyes bright blue. A significant amount of magical energy unmasks itself around her as well, as she reaches out a surprisingly strong and slightly calloused hand to shake with Gawain, rather than the delicate fingers of a priestess. "You're right, but I am from around here. You can understand why I'd want to know about someone consorting with Raksha, right? Especially well-meaning but sort of ignorant heroes who could be easily tricked or duped. You can keep calling me Nerah though; it's better that way." "So, actually, you've come at the perfect time. I applied to open this temple as a private place of worship, and I've been using it as a hideout while the permit is processed, assuming the fake identity of a priestess to investigate in plain sight. Doing Luna's good work and all. As far as I've ascertained though, nobody has invited the Fair Folk in at all. In fact, it appears to me that the Guild has been smuggling children out of the city, to the freehold to the west, through the city's waterways." "What doesn't quite make sense though, is how they're abducting them in the dead of night without anyone noticing. The Guild is mostly made up of skilled but mortal businessmen, mercenaries, slavers, soldiers, accountants, thieves, book-cookers, that sort of thing, but they have irons in all sorts of fires, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were able to call up on some local supernatural talent, or maybe brought in their own. A corrupt Terrestrial Exalted, an osticized god-blooded or two, or perhaps some foreign assassin or agent provocateur. Who knows? I planned on finding out tonight, if you'll accompany me. And certainly, any expertise with Sorcery would be a help! I'm not the most magically inclined type, you know?"
Staren	"They think in stories. A hero like him looking for love? Maybe they wouldn't be able to resist completing the story..." Staren explains. "Hmm. So, do you have anything to do with why this building doesn't draw power from outside the grid?" He follows the conduits, but hesitates to walk out of sight of the others. "The guild. They're here? Why don't we just start killing /them/? Maybe it will lead us to whoever's helping them, and if not... there will still be fewer slavers in the world. Their souls can reincarnate into something better."
Gawain	Gawain shakes Nerah's hand firmly, smiling back. An Exalted, presumably! That's good. He doesn't voice it out loud, of course, in case someone's listening...but a Raksha hunter is useful. "Of course I will join you! I have set myself to this goal, after all." And then Staren speaks up about 'killing the Guild' and Gawain sighs. "We're not just going to go around murdering them without any true cause, simply because it might give us a lead. Not to mention, upsetting the Guild will likely have repercussions on our efforts in Creation in general! As far as I'm aware, they're quite powerful."
Bloody Revelations	The wagon appears to be in no hurry to leave, while All-Seeing Eye makes his way up the channels towards it. There are, in fact, only two people manning it, one skulking around smoking a southern-style pipe, and another performing boring maintenance on a sword and spear and breastplate. They're just low-mid range mercenaries as far as he can tell, and only the pair. There might be more, dispatched somewhere else, but given how settled in they are, they don't seem to expect company until much later in the night. It seems they might've just got here and are waiting on a rendezvous from their client, fellow mercs, or their boss. Tamamo's survey of the giant manse would take easily another 12 hours to map it out in its entirety, and probably a week to properly chart and document all of its systems. Most of it looks sort of pseudo-technological in an artistic, high fantasy way, but turns out to largely be a facade, as the immense power of the place is channeled through what amounts to an unfathomable undertaking of Feng Shui, gathering up the power of the earth, purifying it into solar energy, and directing it up and down and throughout the whole city with the exact shapes of walls and arches, lines of rooms and corridors and engravings, the placement of orbs and gears and statues and gold and silver and white marble. It's also enimently habitable. There is running water, heating, light, even an indoor waterfall and considerable garden slash orchard, which, given the fertility-enhancing enchantments, could probably feed a hundred people or so indefinitely. The place is also replete with numerous magical scanning devices, currently switched off for the most part. Powered systems mostly relate to 'security stations' of floating glass lenses that view feeds all across Whitewall, glowing diamond tables that project images of what appear to be construction sketches left half-finished, recharging docks funneling colourless light into things like hand tools, goggles and masks, elaborate exoskeletal arm braces, and so on, an alchemical facility with a huge jade cauldron currently bubbling something away, and a sort of mechanic's workshop with two major projects in progress, one of which appears to be some kind of jade sphere the size of a human's head, split in half, covered partially in runes and stuffed partially with machinery, and the other, some giant suit of armour, with schematics strewn about, books opened and page-tabbed, and recipes for exotic materials posted on walls, apparently trying to revere engineer from partial information. The 'heart' of the place is easily traced all the way up to the top, where the nexus of energies draws to a single, circular room, with walls the exact shade and shape as Whitewall's city walls themselves, though pointed inward, in miniature. Rather than being stark white, however, they're a tile mosaic of millions of little coloured pieces, depicting glowing warriors in battle with dark and shadowy things, strange 'pagan' gods, and a four armed figure with a lion's head towering above a ziggurat and field of prostrated worshipers. There is an altar in the middle, upon which a powerfully bright sunbeam falls on, almost painful to look at, but whatever was there is missing. That, and there's someone chilling out there, apparently deep in meditation. A young man of surprisingly slender build, clad in indigo robes trimmed with gold, apparently soaking up the energies of the room, though a number of those little glass lenses float before him, flicking through street views of Whitewall.
Tina Natsumi	Tina furrows her brow slightly as she turns briefly to look Damocles over, then whistles lightly when he finally speaks. "Dang. Tall, dark, and...?" She weighs her options, then opts not to reach for the hood. Instead, she slides her phone out of her pocket as she moves right over to him, stands side-by-side, and snaps a picture of herself next to him for a height comparison. "Tall boy. Anyway, good to have a magic guy on board!" She snorts at Tomoe afterwards, tapping a finger to her chin moments later. "Y'think? I mean, I wasn't sure when he called him a scholar o' magic, but now that you mention it..." Another snicker later, and Tina turns her attention back to Nerah just as she transforms. "... Huh. Neat. Remind me to learn how to do that sorta thing." Chuckling briefly, Tina's general mood drops a bit when Nerah explains the Guild's apparent role in all of this. "Money'll get people to do all sorts of crazy shit, especially if they're... Those words you said I guess." A beat. "I don't understand those words you said, by the by. But... Yeah, if someone's got the funds or the clout, I wouldn't rule that out. So..." She taps a finger against her chin again. "... We pose as those experts you mentioned. Kidnappin' experts, real good at the craft of jammin' kids in sacks and-Krampus." She snaps her fingers, then raises an eyebrow at Staren's suggestion. "Whoa, whoa. Let the inmates handle the killin' part. If we start offing people left and right.. I mean, first, that'd be kinda screwed up, but also it'd put 'em into hiding. Makes our search even harder."
Tomoe	Well this certainly was a reveal, that gets an eyebrow going up at Nerah reveal herself she seems to roll with it. She looks the woman over fort a moment and nods. "All right then I'll keep calling you Nehra then." She seems to take this reveal fairly well not that she isn't surprised by it, but she's not taking it badly. As the information on the guild pops up. "So they seem to be trying to up their profit margins with the fae." She looks to Staren. "You have been at this sort of thing longer than me and you can't see if we just start randomly ganking them they will go to ground in most likelihood and start-up later or just case it and we'll never get any answers. It would also likely drive whoever is behind this to bolt. So what about the idea is how to find out what if we could find a way to bait them, somehow magically disguise someone at a kid or use some sort of illusion for the slavers to grab and we can then follow that? Nerah? Do you have any thoughts on that I'm not much of a real spell caster but I figure trying to bait them somehow works much better than just murdering Guild operatives at random." Tina's comment get a bit of an amused smile on Tomoe's face. "I think I do think that."
Staren	Staren growls briefly. "At least then the world has fewer slavers in it and that's /something/. But... you may be on to something. I could make a robot that looks like a kid, but how would we make sure they go after it, specifically?"
All-Seeing Eye	Mercenaries. Two. Eye checks the time, looking at a little holographic timepiece that appears as he lifts his wrist. There's still a while yet until the children typically start disappearing. Those two don't look as if they're in any hurry to leave. His guess about wagons and horses was on the money--what if this wagon can lead him to the meeting place with the Fair Folk? That would be fortuitous, wouldn't it? But that's rarely how it happens. It'd be better to hedge his bets. He starts by attempting to pierce the covered wagon. Rocking idly on his heels in the early evening air, Eye seems to be enjoying the weather. In truth, he's trying to look through whatever's in that wagon. Anything incriminating?
Damocles	Damocles nods a little at Tomoe's comment about being a magic expert, his glowing eyes thinning just a little. "Y-yes, that's what I...just said." Tina sneaks up on him and he flinches back a little when she's suddenly right under him snapping a photo. "Gah! Warn a guy before you do that. And it's--It's Damocles. I just s--Did nobody hear anything I said?" At the mention of needing an expert in magic, Damocles inclines his head again, this time enough that it's clear with the hood. He was standing towards the back of the assemblage, mostly because his size means that he tends to look for the back-row seats so people behind him don't have his huge form blocking their view. He raises his staff in a slight salute as he says dryly, "Well that's good to hear. If I'd made this trip for nothing, someone would be getting a strongly worded letter, let me tell you." He listens to people plotting how to gather information for a bit, and then clears his throat. "You know, I bet, um, sorry, Nerah was it? I bet Nerah here already has a plan for -how- we're going to get that information. You said something about accompanying you? Did you have some transport in mind, or are we just going to gaggle along down the street?"
Tamamo	Tamamo doesn't need to learn everything here, and does pass by much of what she sees without a deeper interest. The mechanical projects would be interesting to another, but are too far outside her mode. The overall undertaking of feng shui is itself interesting, and would require a more complete mapping to fully understand, but she can get much of what is happening just by tracing the flow of power, without even having to enter each room and corridor. The habitable areas would be tempting under other circumstances. A few things do get her to lightly step in, curious, such as to check what that is that's bubbling in the cauldron. "Has it been set most recently, bubbled most slowly, or been caught in some condenser, I wonder. But no, it appears as if a single vat...?" Of runes she can only puzzle some sense if they are of some half-familiar language, and of machinery undismantled, she knows even less, though she can understand skeletal structures, mirrors and lenses without issue. She takes a look at the masks and goggles, just long enough to take a glance through them. In any case, her journey must continue upward, time being finite for the future kidnapping victims, if less so for her. There are a number of sights above, but most importantly, she finds 'someone.' She gives the man a quizzical look, saying, "Oh, your pardon, please. I had thought this place yet uninhabited, by its description without." She may be interrupting his meditation, and that is unfortunate, but she is, firstly, a goddess and, secondly, has business. The only choice that remains is to be reasonably polite about it. "Might I ask, then, if this is your structure?" Establishing that issue of ownership would determine whether she has just found a very significant squatter, or perhaps another seeking to resolve specific business in the city.
Bloody Revelations	"Ohhhh." 'Nerah' says softly as Staren speaks. "He's your hired muscle? Wow he's tiny! Obviously though, we don't kill, y'know, literally my only leads, right?" She looks to Gawain. "Yep. The Guild obviously does plenty of legitimate business --more real trade than illicit by far-- that people depend on, all across Creation, and really, all of the shady stuff they do is through so many expendable pawns and shell companies, local gangs, regional barons --that sort of thing. You cut off one tendril and another reappears anyways." She winks at Tina. "Don't think I could teach you, love. She bestows her gifts on those that please her. Not something you can learn. Posing as . . . mmm, sure, if you think you can pull it off, but, if you asked me, you don't look the type. You're barely a woman yourself!" "Illusions . . . mmmm . . . Maybe? Whatever they've been doing, it'd seem like a strange change of pace to suddenly start snatching babes out of the streets, y'know? And besides, whose children would be outside after dark? At this time of year. Unaccompanied. With children going missing. If they have some sort of expert, it'd tip them off straight away. You'd have better luck . . ." she stops and thinks a second, tapping her chin, then extending one finger. "Better luck conjuring up a gutter orphan! Kids roaming around the waterways, where the poor live where it's warm! 'fcourse almost nobody down there even has kids, but that'd make it an opportune stroke, don't you think? Could any of you convincingly pull that off?"
Bloody Revelations	All-Seeing Eye spying on the wagon uncovers nothing particularly suspicious, but more or less the contents that would support his current theory. Huge numbers of crates and tarps and barrels are empty, waiting to be loaded up, but with obviously no intent to get anything from the city above; how would a horse climb up a ladder? Someone must be coming down later to bring merchandise, and thus if it were legal, it'd be in the southmost quarter near the gate. The rest is largely packed with large amounts of travel rations, for at least two weeks' journey, excessive for only two people.
Tomoe	Tomoe looks to Staren for a moment, and it's a concerned look. She doesn't reply to his comments though it might spark an argument they don't have time for. Now isn't the time for this sort of thing they need to focus on the topic at hand she thinks about illusions and magic. She'll pause and look to Damocles for a moment. "You said you were a magic expert right? Do you have any spells or skills that could help hs to craft a convincing illusion either stand-alone or on a volunteer? If someone's needed for it I'll volunteer as I did suggest it I'd not want to ask anyone else to be bait." She'll look back to Nerah, Gawain, Tina and Staren at this poing then back to Damocles.
Bloody Revelations	To Tamamo's examination, the cauldron appears to be a singular, huge, uselessly unified vat from the outside, and has been left out for a while, but some convoluted array of magics is automatically stirring, heating, mixing, segregating, blending, boiling, and generally working with its myriad contents all by itself, left automatically to go by a certain procedure or recipe overnight. Anything particularly skeletal looks to be strapped to the limbs, and is either warded with protective enchantments, for doing hazardous work, or is some form of strength magnification, for heavy lifting. The goggles seem to have the same protective functions as welding eyewear, but have little knobs that adjust the spectrum of colours one can see, including thermal gradients, and a visual representation of the power flows she can feel, less broadly useful and more focused on minute detail and fidelity. The runes are unintelligible. A local language, and probably a very very old one. Though the young man appears to meditating, he replies to Tamamo without much issue, as if he can multi-task scouring the city remotely, a cultivative trance, and a conversation, with no problem. "No need for apologies." he says, a little bit hazily, but warmly. "This place is indeed supposed to be uninhabited. Inaccessible, too." He laughs for a scarce few beats. "I wish I could say this temple were truly mine, or that I were even the slightest bit capable of recreating a fraction of its glory, but no, it outdates me by some three thousand years or so." "Currently, however, I am its master, if only in lieu of anyone else capable, unworthy as I may be of it. You've at least heard of the Syndics, yes. The three gods in Whitewall? At their behest, access to this grand temple was granted to me in secret, so that I might make use of it. Thousands of years ago, it was built by the Chosen of the Unconquered Sun, who since vanished off the face of the world some fifteen centuries ago. To put it simply, somehow, I came into the possession of one of their reincarnations, and so I am able to attune to this temple's considerable powers." Getting up from his meditation, he straightens his robes and turns around with a little bow to Tamamo. "There are others like me, though very very few. Our very existence is strictly prohibited and demonized by the empire that controls most of Creation, and their arm does reach here, so please, I ask of you instead, to pardon the secrecy. The Syndics hope that I will be able to tap into this temple-manse's secrets and find a way to reconsecrate Whitewall. To bring back it to its former glories, repair its ageing technologies, strengthen its fading blessings, restore its ravaged walls, and in returning it to the way it was, draw the attention of the Unconquered Sun, divine of divines, back to this world." "I've been at this for . . . almost twenty years now. It's slow progress. Someone from outside Creation resonated with this manse once before, and in doing so, they saved Whitewall. When someone else comes petitioning the gates, even more at home with it --when its systems tell me it has identified a friend-- then who would I be to turn them away? Especially after you repaired that bafflingly persistent damage to the first floor." "My name is Rune. May I ask yours?"
Staren	Staren rolls his eyes at the muscle comment. He growls a bit more at the suggestion that killing anyone from the Guild is either a bad idea or pointless, and at Tomoe's look. "Sounds like an excuse for allowing slavers to continue, but we ARE after bigger fish at the moment." At least he can hope there's probably no room in Bloody Revelations's paradise for fairies and enslavement. Seeing that he's not getting along with Nerah, he decides to let the party keep talking with her while he follows the conduits out of the room. Even if it does mean breaking line of sight with the party... there's PROBABLY not monsters about to snatch him, and being around the others is frustrating right now.
Damocles	Damocles taps his staff to his chin, peering between Tomoe, Staren and Nerah. His eyes arch up thoughtfully as his mind quickly works though the details, organizing the spells he'd need in his mind and working through the chain of events. "I mean, sure," he says after a moment, "I could whip up an illusion that would lure in your kidnappers." To illustrate his point, he waves his staff to the side. From it, a swirl of mist emerges, and quickly forms into a humanoid shape, about 3 feet tall. A second or so later, and color forms on the surface. A second after that, and it's formed into a young boy wearing typical clothes for a child in this area. "Illusions are a fragile thing, though. They're, by their nature, lies. And like any lie, when exposed to evidence..." He idly swings his staff at the young boy. The staff passes though it, easily, and the form of the boy pops like a bubble, the mist swirling around the air like smoke, fading a moment later.
Tina Natsumi	Laughing at Damocles' reaction, the notably shorter-than-him cowgirl claps a hand against his back lightly. "Damocles, huh? That might actually be kinda fittin' from the looks of ya. Tina, @FreedomWithFries, whatever's easier for you." Yes, she pronounces the symbol. "Aw. Well, askin' was worth a shot. Haven't had much luck thinkin' up new FX gimmicks for the streams lately, but if I had more..." Tina pauses, looking down briefly before shrugging after not coming up with anything particularly notable to change. She's secure enough about that much, at least. "Hey, hey, I'm already gonna be turnin' twenty soon! Ish. But you ain't suggestin' I should make myself a kidnappin' target, are ya? Because..." She starts, then furrows her brow as she starts actually considering it. Eventually, she sighs in resignation. "... Plan C. But if it's illusions we need, I've been practicing this thing that's been gettin' a lot of attention online. Haven't really had a chance to bust it out 'til now." Looking for the dustiest wall she can find, Tina snaps another quick photo of herself as a robot decked out in red, white, and blue colors appears. It's kind of big, though, so she directs it to stand off in a corner somewhere while an image begins to appear on that wall. It takes a bit of doing, but there's eventually a child-like shape appearing on the wall, moving around somewhat stiffly and staring at the group. As it does, Tina cheats by watching Damocles' child illusion to remember what children look like and wear in this region, and the illusion's proportions and facial structure adjust rapidly to look more like an actual child. At least, if a real child lacked depth beyond looking like they were being projected on a wall and a bit too brightly lit. "If I get this up in somewhere foggy or movin' down an alley where they won't be able to scrutinize too long, this might do the trick."
Gawain	Gawain rubs his brow at Staren, but continues talking to Nerah. "Magic is not my skillset...but I believe my knightly talents will help when we finally find the kidnappers, at the least." Damocles shows off his illusions, and Gawain nods, looking over them carefully. "That may be useful, at least as a start! We know where their territory is as well, though a frontal assault without any preparation or knowledge of make-up would be folly. Do you know anything about their fortress, Nerah?"
All-Seeing Eye	It's illegal. That much, he's sure of. He isn't sure that this is the lead he's looking for--but when he sees the rations, he's more certain than he was before. The wagon is at least worth watching. But since there's some time yet to go before everything happens, there's no harm in ensuring he can watch it once he actually needs to. Eye reaches up to brush an errant lock of hair aside. When he does so, his eye pops into his hand, replaced by an obvious prosthetic which rolls into its place. The cybernetic eye in his palm is placed gently on the top of a nearby waist-high wall. Standing on a bundle of synthetic nerves like a spider, it crawls to a less obvious position and stands vigil in Eye's stead, watching the wagon. The Exalt spends the time he's just bought himself the best way he knows how--more legwork. He needs to find a list of those who have had children stolen. And a map of the city. He flags down the nearest guard he can find. "Excuse me! Yes, hello," he says, batting his eyes and throwing in a hairflip for good measure. He's readying his Paladins ID with the other hand. "All-Seeing Eye, Warden of the Paladins, I'm here investigating the disapperances," he says in a lower tone of voice. "Dreadful business," he adds with a sympathetic air. "I think I may have a lead, but I need information. A detailed map of the city would be very helpful! Especially one with the homes of the victims marked upon it. Where can I get something like that?"
Bloody Revelations	Staren wandering off isn't met with much resistance. Behind the altar is an itty bitty reqliquary --more of a clerical room, really-- where the actual components that go on a shrine, mostly in the form of various bowls, icons, candle holders, frames, and inscribed stones and plaques of wood, are arranged for storage. Set into the wall, amidst a chiselled engraving of an eagle made of hundreds of non-intersecting lines, a stone the size of a small chicken's egg, perfectly spherical, occupies an indentation. It's bright, shimmering, almost liquid silver, with rainbow iridescence splayed across it when he shines a light. It has a fairly significant amount of magical power, a small quantity of which is being siphoned off to power the place in isolation. Witnessing Damocles' illusion, Nerah's eyes light up, followed by a verdict of "Perfect! That'll work just wonders." She cants her head to examine Tina's critically, then says "Needs work love, but having two might help split them up and isolate them.", apparently deciding it's good enough for that much. She apparently can't, or won't, help a giggle though. "What a funny thing to say. That lies disappear when people are exposed to the truth." Finally, she claps her fist into her palm and says to Gawain, "Right! You're a big hero, aren't you? There's no way they'd try to fight you! Besides, since they'd genuinely expect some kind of mercy from you, they'd probably even be cooperative when you catch them! The Guild, that is. As for the Fair Folk . . ." Here Nehra stops to gather her thoughts, ostensibly recollecting from fragmented memory. "I've mostly heard things about it. Actually reliable sources, mind you, though those don't tend to be the most stable folk. The freehold itself is surrounded by frozen fog; it's a deadly sort of supernatural mist, born out of the chaos of Wyld pockets, which roves around and freezes people solid in minutes. If you survive it, you tend to wander out the other side hundreds of miles away. Past that, the freehold itself is at the top of a mountain, or rather, in the clouds above it, connected by a silk ladder. Supposedly there's a little village of long houses and banquet halls and a keep made of unmelting ice and frozen lightning. There are a few major waypoints, but . . ." "The most important thing is that freeholds themselves can shift and change shape and relations between all its points freely, at the whims of the Raksha lord that owns it. At the center though, there's always a Bonefire. You'll know it the moment you see it just by the name. The Raksha that controls it controls the whole freehold, and if it's extinguished, the freehold disperses. It's also the only place they can create the pennants that allow them to survive in Creation without slowly unraveling from exposure to solid reality." "That all make sense? Are we good? We have a plan?"
Tamamo	There are many sorts who might have been met under such strange circumstances, and this one is more fortunate than most. She listens with close attention and a faint smile, noting the correct guess that she would be largely unaware of what must be common, if rarely mentioned, knowledge within the area. "Rune, is it? You have been most politely helpful, and so, I must respond in kind." And perhaps in an equally, helpfully informative manner, or at least, more so than she usually cares to be during introductions. "I am Tamamo no Mae, bunrei of Amaterasu-omikami, goddess of a distant Sun. I know not whether the gods you know practice spirit separation, but it may serve to think of me as a goddess 'to such scale that mortals do not burn in her presence,' yet without a fundamental change of nature." Neither an avatar, nor a descendant, the distinction is sometimes important. "It was some rumor of the fae kidnapping children that did bring my attention to Whitewall so recently, and their safety remains my present concern." It is a noticeably human motivation, if one doesn't assume a Sun Goddess to have some sort of authority regarding families. "I see little and less reason to betray a Chosen of the Sun, even should this Sun and Myself be different entities, and even had you not been engaged in support of this goal, as you are concerned for the safety of the people, no? Have no fear of this." The matter of the Anathema settled, she continues, "I have yet to meet with 'the gods in Whitewall,' and it is not my manner to offer my blessings without discrimination." It's not quite a rejection of aid, but there's steps to take before then. Nor was aid quite requested, but that he did mean to suggest she might assist, as did that unnamed, previous person, she hears as a politely phrased undercurrent to his explanations. "Still," Tamamo continues brightly, actually brightly, "as you may be able to assist me with this matter, so will I return the favor, and should you lay to rest these natural concerns of unfamiliarity," in having just met someone, in having just come to a city or to a country, in not having met its administrators or been allowed to understood its politics or its place in the world surrounding it, all things Tamamo leaves unspoken but expects to be heard, "and thus I become 'familiar,' you may then rely upon me as the friend this place perceives me to be. Foreign though this land is to me, I feel this place as belonging to 'the Sun,' without distinction. Blessings and consecration are well within my reach, as you may have since seen, in that small measure."
Tina Natsumi	Not bad for the first time tryin' for a kid, right?" Tina laughs and takes Nerah's criticism in stride, eventually just pulling her phone back out to do a quick image search to get the head shape juuust right (for a 2D image). At least, if she even gets reception out here. "So me and Damocles lure 'em into the net, we bag the culprits, and Gawain handles the negotiations?" She nods in approval, then listens to Nerah's explanation of the Fair Folk afterwards. "Sounds like a pain just to get up there. climbin' ladders ain't my idea of a good time, and goin' up hun-" She pauses. "... How does anyone wander /that/ far without starvin' or passin' out? Dang, the people here are all kinds of crazy." Tina's tone is more impressed than insulting despite her words, but she raises an eyebrow when talk shifts towards Bonefire. "Sounds pretty important. Might be worth seeing if there's any..." Another pause. "What would we even get out of going up to one of these Bonefires, anyway? Not like we're trying to run the whole place into the ground, right?"
Damocles	"Let's see...Find kidnappers, squeeze them until they give up their boss, then squeeze the boss until they give up the ghost. Sounds good to me. Got any preferences on kid? Boy, girl, little, fat? Hmm?" "Oh, come on, I'm not making an /actual kid/. Okay, fine." He raises his staff again, and more mist swirls from it, quickly forming into another child, this time a young girl in the kind of tattered clothing that isn't uncommon for a street urchin. The girl looks around the room and smiles. "Oh boy, I sure do love living in my bleak, underclass existence! I sure hope nobody kidnaps me tonight!" She giggles playfully, and Damocles motions towards Tina with one hand. "Okay Misty. Go play with aunty Tina." The kid nods firmly, and walks over to stand near Tina, while Damocles looks back over to Nerah. "Good to go. I'll work out the bugs on the way."
Tomoe	Tomoe looks at Damocles's illusion she seems satisfied herself and Tina's own abilities give them some more options for the plan. She watches Staren wander off but does not stop him as he does his own thing, he'll call for help if ends up needing it. "The Guild sounds it's very established. I can help with trying to subdue who we need to I have the muscle for that." Then comes more information on the Freehold. She keenly pays attention to what Nehra has to say as it could be valuable to them. "I think we're good to go. Tell me about it, Tina. The people of creation tend to be pretty hardcore on a lot of things." She looks to Damocles and his creation then pauses. "We might want to have your creation depending on the set up being lost or maybe playing with a ball and just lost track of time."
Gawain	"Very well, that's all agreeable." Gawain says, regarding the negotiations. "The Guild and I will have to have a chat about abducting children from this city, it seems, once we have captured them!" And as he gets the information about the freehold, he nods, but he doesn't say much about it. He's processing it to assist in the plan. "Yes, we have a plan. It'll be a pleasure working with you, Nerah."
Damocles	More mist swirls around the little girl's hands, and then she's holding a red ball. She holds it, looking at it for a moment, as Damocles looks at the illusion. After a moment, both illusion and illusionist turn to look at Tomoe. "So," Damocles starts slowly, "I never actually had a 'ball' as a kid. What do they...do with them?"
Staren	Staren takes a brief look at the eagle without the goggles as well, it seems like a symbol of significance. But more interesting is the power source; is it actually generating energy from nothing, from local leylines, or is it a battery that can run the lights for a very long time? Either way, the mystery is solved -- this is obviously a device brought by Nerah. He returns to the main room. "I asked the people who claimed to be faerie hunters in the city... they said they've never heard of anyone actually making it through the freehold, nor how to do so. We're better luring the fairies out of it than fighting them on their home turf."
Bloody Revelations	All-Seeing Eye gets much the same information as most people did the previous day, though going directly to the night shift Guardians, who are obviously the ones who are immediately concerned with finding, or at least encountering, a culprit, and are more heavily armed than the day shift right now, they immediately comply to the best of their ability, glad for the hand. An actual map of the city in detailed form, they indicate, would come from an administrative office or civil engineering only, which are all closed at this time. If prompted though, a unit leader who is a blue frog person goes and sketches him a reasonably accurate one from memory; it doesn't capture each and every block and alleyway, but it has enough landmarks, named streets, side roads, and civil features that he could navigate to the Xs without issue, provided he be able to look for names on each household within a roughly one or two block radius. It's the kind of map someone who has patrolled the city for plural decades would be able to draw. The markings don't appear to have a clear pattern to them, but they're all within the southern half of the city, nearest to the gates and waterways, and none within the reach of the old magitech power grid.
Bloody Revelations	Rune does his best to studiously listen to what Tamamo has to say, puzzling through her somewhat archaic and veiled way of speaking as best as he is able --which is, to be fair to him, quite well-- before committing to any kind of reply. "Aha. Few of the 'gods' as the people of today would call them, but I am familiar with the concept in occult lore. A god who is made of many aspects, who imbues them into beings that are independent, but still 'themself'. A part of the greater whole as a finger dipped in water to test its temperature, where a whole person wouldn't ever fit into a glass." "That's fascinating, actually. Are there others like you? Other multiplied aspects of-- no, no, that can wait. Indeed, you're right, the issue of the abductions is prime amongst my temporal concerns at the moment. If the Fair Folk are indeed invading Whitewall, in all likelihood they are not being invited, but rather there is a slip or crevice in its divine protection somewhere, which concerns me. The three Syndics are very old, very powerful gods, but they are not the Sun himself, far mightier than they. This whole city was once an ancient dedication --a work of religious art and conviction-- to Sol Invictus, and they wouldn't claim to own it. He has turned his face from our mortal troubles, you see, and they'd hope to win his favour back." "Unfortunately, many of the city's holy aspects were seized or destroyed by the empire before this one when they outlawed his worship, and only those so great and holy that they feared his wrath, should they destroy them, were covered up or hidden away. It's only the physical boundary the walls themselves that are absolute in this age. Restoring everything would, well, unfortunately take a consecration of each brick as it is laid, at this point. Hardly efficient." "Matters of restoring old ways to making the fields bear fruit all year round, swift travel to nearby nations, keeping at bay the worst winter storms, eradicating the pockets of chaos and the underworld all across the North, and powerful military defenses to be reactivated --those things feel more pressing. Yet, also, chief amongst what the neighbouring Fair Folk would wish to sabotage, should they learn of me and my work, and are able to freely enter the city through some unknown means." He turns to his floating array of dinner plate-sized lenses, showing misty views of various streets and intersections, as well as one of those projected 3d maps. "The boundary of the walls goes all the way around the city both above and underground. It shouldn't be possible to fly over or tunnel beneath them, for the dead, demons, or fae. I've done my best to take advantage of this temple's considerable analytical abilities, but any magic they might have used has been kept extremely subtle to avoid notice."
Bloody Revelations	"Nevertheless, I have emplaced a number of traps, wards, imprisonments, and magic-canceling devices at several major places that would be possible for even the Guardians to drive an enemy towards during a pursuit." He enlarges the map, pressing a crystalline button that causes numerous points all around the streets and waterways to glow red. "I have also been working to restore a damaged artifact of relevance to finally dealing with that freehold once and for all. I believe you saw it touring my workshop, yes? A Sphere of Precious Stability. A mobile apparatus that stabilizes reality all around it, and makes those within its radius of protection immune to the warping effects of the Wyld and the wiles of the Raksha. I require more time, magic, and components to finish it, however."
Bloody Revelations	"Maybe ah . . . maybe a little less overt than that, hm?" Nerah says to Damocles, visibly straining to hold in a laugh at 'Misty' with a quiver of her clenched lip. "Bounce them around. Toss them to each other. Play games about kicking and throwing them. You're a weird guy, you know that?" She waggles her finger at Tina. "Ah ah, that's actually the problem isn't it? You don't wander a hundred miles. You struggle on for a few hours, freezing to the bone, you run for the other side, and blam, you're five hundred miles away from civilization! No trails! Most of the time travelers don't make it back from that you know. You have to be very lucky, or very, very prepared. Either way, it obviously makes getting anywhere near the freehold troublesome, if taking a straight line to it warps you somewhere else." She looks at Staren. "That'd be why, first off. The talents of Wyld navigation are rare and usually mistrusted, for good reason. I could lead you myself of course, though you'd still have to prepare for a terrible journey, and then there's the matter of forcing a band of a dozen Raksha to fight you in an arena they can shape at their whim. You would be better off luring them out, but how would you plan to do that? You can't starve them out, of course, and they have servants to chase you. Even then, there's a hierarchy that'd see at least one or two staying behind, perfectly happy if the rest die off and leave it to them." Then back to Tina. "You don't? What's the matter with stoving in a freehold? They're pockets of unnatural chaos. Blemishes on Creation that can't survive naturally. Snuff out the fire, and the Winter Folk are toast! They can't use the place against you, they can't replenish their energies, and their protective pennants are gone. No more fortress within spitting distance of Whitewall! Problem solved!"
Bloody Revelations	The thing shoved in the wall at the back, as far as Staren can tell, is generating its own energy. It's very obviously something Nerah brought with her, and attuned to her. It's the same general kind of 'geomantic energy' used around here, except aspected in a different way than the Solar energy coursing around the city, or the generic 'untyped' energy below on the leylines. It is in of itself enchanted in some way or another, but mostly seems to generate lots of power from nowhere.
Damocles	Damocles looks back to the illusion. She drops the ball, and it slowly drifts to the ground, just a little bit more slowly than gravity would naturally carry it. It touches the ground, and remains there for a moment, before lifting back up, just as slowly to return to her hand, as if a video played in reverse. "Hmm, I'll work on it." The conversation about luring the fae out of their hole is also heard. He could teleport if he new the destination, but he couldn't take anyone with him, so that's not too helpful. Still, getting there doesn't seem like the harder part of the plan. "Maybe 'force' them out instead of luring them?" He offers hopefully as he continues trying to refine his 'bouncing a ball' illusion. "Is there a Raksha version of nerve gas handy?" He turns his head to look at the others, his eyes a bit more round. "Hey, I'm just saying--We're tossing around ideas here."
Tomoe	Tomoe pauses to add one last thing. "Thank you Nerah for your help in this matter." She then just stares at Damocles never had a ball as a child. She's about to say what one could do with a ball but Nerah has covered it nicely. She does give the armoured wizard a bit of a confused look for a moment longer. "Sounds like some kind of teleportation a real pain to deal with." She thinks a bit more about the matter. "If we could do that it would also mean an end to the Guild making money off the Raksha. So if it were put it out? They'd have to flee and never come back. Or they'd be pretty much screwed. The question is as you said how do we get in there I have crystals that can let me teleport to certain cities I have been to before. It does nothing for a place I have never been to before. but not to a place I have never been."
Damocles	"I can teleport to places as long as I have a good idea where they are," Damocles offers when Tomoe brings up teleporting, "But it involves, hrrrm, let's just say there are reasons why I couldn't bring anyone with me."