[Video]// forward dated to after the dungeon rescues

[neverfeltthatway]

I have the list of Travelers who are missing, who have gone out of ambit.

[He takes a breath, bracing himself for it.]

Cass, Jason, Steph, Alexander, Melisande, Jessica, Roronoa, Inana, Lucifer, and Anzu.

[He's quiet for a long moment, solemn and respectful, giving people a change to process the list before moving on.]

Does anybody know anything about the Arcana who were involved in the jaunt, or who it was that won? I didn't learn much about the situation from my overlay.

Comments

[senpaidol]

Well, Emperor seems pretty obvious now, even to me. Although it's kinda funny that he apparently won when we beat up a big king-like Pogemon boss with a castle. Maybe it's because we followed the plot of a kids' show really well?

Not sure who the other was, but someone who's better at symbolism probably figured it out...

[neverfeltthatway]

Maybe, but the Pogemon boss wasn't exactly a paragon for structure and order. The Nevermore and its army seemed to breed chaos.

[senpaidol]

Yeah...come to think of it, this was kinda the same situation as Newport, wasn't it? Except the guys on the magical side of the divide were against Emperor instead of in cahoots with the leader guy.

Or...I guess so, anyway. Not really sure if Emperor had a leader guy this time like he did with the possessed king in Newport. He might have just been going for keeping things orderly?

[It sounds suspicious, now that she thinks about it.]

[neverfeltthatway]

...I think Malik's overlay might have been his leader in this jaunt. He already seemed fairly well positioned in the human world, and helping to take down the Nevermore isn't going to hurt his standing in either world.

[From the way he says it, Armin probably doesn't think that that's a good thing.]

[senpaidol]

.......welp.

Still not much of a detective by myself, if I missed that. He's exactly the guy who stood to benefit from everything that happened, isn't he?

[triggerhappytraitor]

Hanged Man.

Both of them were there at the tournament.

[neverfeltthatway]

Really? Just watching, I suppose.

Well, it's no real surprise that Hanged Man is out of the running near the beginning. From what I heard, he never had much of an active interest in winning. Or at least working toward that goal.

[triggerhappytraitor]

Exactly that, yeah.

He had no plan for if he won. He just said he would be surprised if it happened.

[neverfeltthatway]

Yeah. On the other hand, I'm not really sure how I feel about the Emperor.

[dino_zarf]

Emperor was out and about as one of those creepy things from the pizza place. Rose is terrified of them.

[triggerhappytraitor]

I thought it was familiar looking, but I hadn't realized that's what it was.

Any idea why?

[dino_zarf]

I didn't put it together until I was back.

[Being infiltrated and all]

I reckon she just finds them slightly off. Just close enough to realistic to completely freak her out.

[neverfeltthatway]

That was him? I thought it was odd, but didn't think too much of it at the time. [Being an infiltrator and all.] Did he do anything, or just sit around and watch, do you know?

[dino_zarf]

Didn't put it together until later. He talked about a goddaughter who happened to be exactly Rose's age.

[That was the big clue really]

Didn't really find out much. Not exactly easy to find out much when the baby won't stop screaming.

[hazardlight]

Nevermore didn't hold any legitimate power, though. He used to be a member of the council but he'd already been... deposed? impeached? thrown out. Well, actually, they thought he was dead then, because apparently they're bad at confirming his death, but the point is that he used to be part of the government and they removed him from power by what that world figured was legitimate means, and a long time before we got there.

It'd probably be closer to say we prevented a coup than that we brought down a ruler.

[neverfeltthatway]

And from that perspective, a win for the Emperor makes a lot of sense.

[acapriciousthing]

A lot of mine...

[They hadn't spoken much, here. But they were still hers.]

[neverfeltthatway]

...I'm sorry.

[acapriciousthing]

It's a bit of a strange situation, all things considered. I know them a lot better than they know me.

[neverfeltthatway]

...May I ask, how is it that you know them so much better?

[acapriciousthing]

I'm Death in their universe. I know everyone from the moment they're born.

[thornsofmalkav]

Wait, Lucifer?

[God, she has no idea how to feel about this. And yes, this is what gets her to talk to you while she's still mad at you, Armin. The vanishing of her kismesis least favorite person.]

[neverfeltthatway]

[He draws in a sharp breath - he hadn't expected to hear from her like this.]

...She's not in liminal space. I can't tell you any more than that.

[thornsofmalkav]

Not in our part of liminal space. It's got levels.

[neverfeltthatway]

I know that. She's nowhere I can detect, and hasn't been since the jaunt. I don't know anyone that's been in a different level this long that hasn't been in a dungeon or on a walkabout. That's all I have to go off of.