... So what'd I miss?

[galvanizer]

[Here's a voice that hasn't been heard on the network for some time - deep and rich as always, though with a bit of a long-suffering sigh mixed in.]

Sometimes these Trumps make me feel like a toy they like to put away before bringing back out again at random.

Does anyone know how long I was gone this time, and is there anything extreme that I've missed? This is Asaraanda Adaar of Thedas, by the way, for those I haven't yet been able to meet. Easy enough to spot, just look for the giant with the horns.

Comments

[truerevelation]

... damn, hi!

Ya weren't out of it as long as last time you were away - what was the last thing you were here for again?... but man. Stuff's ... uh. Kinda changed a bit round here.

We ... got the talk on what's going on.

[galvanizer]

Hello, Kanji. Have you been well?

By 'the talk' I'm guessing the Trumps had a one-on-one with everyone else?

[truerevelation]

Pretty good, yeah. Thanks. You alright?

And right. There was a whole big ... month out thing where everyone around got Marked and taken off to go talk things over with whoever got 'em. That was ... a coupla Jaunts ago now.

[galvanizer]

I'm fine, feels a lot like the last time I went missing.

That would explain my face-to-face time with Strength... So, everyone is Marked, now?

[truerevelation]

Yeah. You got it. Picked their teams...

[galvanizer]

So they have their toy soldiers sorted.

... Is it including the children?

[wholeheaded]

Asa! Oh, it's good to hear your voice darlin'.

Uh, you've been gone a few jaunts but the rules have changed a bit, the Arcana are competing against each other and they're not letting anyone go unMarked anymore, those are two of the biggies.

[ and he knows for a fact she did not have a Mark previous to her walkabout. ]

[galvanizer]

Hello, Ambrose. [Why yes, her 'voice' warms, almost as if she's smiling.] It's good to hear yours', too.

[A brief pause, thinking, thinking, processing...]

Hmm. That would explain the conversation I had before arriving in this wooden horse. No Marks on my hands, though, and I don't have a mirror so I can't check my face, so I'm not entirely sure it was that Trump that picked me.

[wholeheaded]

I could help you locate it, if you like. And catch you up on the gossip and goings-on.

[galvanizer]

Only if you're not too busy...?

[wholeheaded]

You know how it is here, I've got nothing but time. Where are you?

[galvanizer]

By the head of this infernal beast. Want me to come find you?

[highnoonsomewhere]

When you say giant, how big we talkin', here?

[galvanizer]

[Taking a moment to remember how to convert to feet for non-Thedosians]

Approximately 7 feet and a bit.

[bitofafop]

When you say you were "gone", where were you gone to?

[galvanizer]

For me, it feels like I just woke up from a nap, but there are way too many new faces for that to be the case. Sometimes the Trumps put us away, and then sometimes they bring us back out. The last time, I'd been gone for a couple of years before they dusted me off.

[bitofafop]

...so they can put us away and pick us back up again whenever the whim suits them. I see.

[Yeeeeah, someone is just slightly more disgruntled than he already was.]

And here the one I spoke with was trying to tell me we weren't toys to them.

Welcome back, though, I suppose.

[galvanizer]

It might not always be their fault that we fall out of Liminal Space. No one ever really sat us down to explain why that happens, or why Dungeons come around, or who is responsible for powering them. You get used to it... sort of.

Thanks. What's your name, I haven't heard your voice before?

[bitofafop]

[A snort.] Doubtful.

But my name is Entreri. I only arrived here a couple of months ago, and I think I would remember a "giant with horns" if I'd seen you around during that time.

[galvanizer]

Yeah, I probably went missing further back than that. How are you enjoying Liminal Space?

[translation: are you okay?]

[neverfeltthatway]

Asa. [The tone is calm, and only a little surprised.] Welcome back.

You been gone... [He's quiet for a moment, estimating the time in his head.] A little upward of half a year, if my figuring is right. And there have been some revelations, yeah.

Everyone's been marked, and spoken to their 'sponsors'. We're now in the third phase, where the Arcana are competing more directly with each other through the jaunts now, with the winner to 'achieve the world' and 'reflect themselves throughout reality'. Apparently this universe was fortune's - that's part of why the selection of Travelers is left so much up to chance. Essentially, if they win, then whatever the Arcana stands for, the universe would shape itself more according to those precepts.

As such, we've all but unanimously decided that we don't want Tower or Devil to win. The others are a mixed bag, promising various things to their chosen or to the Travelers as a whole if they win. And of course we have to consider what it would mean for the larger universe, too. There's no consensus on who we want to win.

It would also give them the ability to restore the deceased Arcana to life, which is a goal that most of them share. Apparently with several of them gone, the whole is out of balance.

The tournament is single elimination - for each jaunt, there are two Arcana playing, and according to how it finishes, one of them is eliminated. So far Lovers and Hanged Man have been eliminated, and Hermit and Emperor have advanced.

[galvanizer]

Hi, Armin. Thanks, I guess? Are you well?

[After listening to the explanation-] So, if this is a tournament, the winners then have to compete against each other again and again until we have a single winner... but some of the Trumps have cheated in the past, right? What's the bet one of them tries to sneak their way back into the competition?

[neverfeltthatway]

I'm... well enough, under the circumstances. [Which is to say, pain and loss are ever a part of life, here.]

And well, I think it's sort of subjective to call it cheating. As I understand it, what they did wasn't explicitly in the rules one way or the other - so in the end, they had to allow it. But this is different; I don't think they'd allow a violation so egregious as to allow someone who's been eliminated a shot at being the winner. I'm not even sure they could.

...Which is not to say that I think those who have been eliminated won't interfere. I'm not nearly naive enough for that.

[galvanizer]

You're hardly naive. [Not after so long, especially.] Have the Jaunts grown more violent as a result of this, or are they still... mixed?

[neverfeltthatway]

No. [He agrees.] I suppose not.

In the third phase? Still mixed, I'd say. There was an army involved last time, but I didn't hear of anyone getting killed. And there was definitely danger the time before, but we managed to evade most of it.

There hasn't been much squabbling over which Arcana should win on a jaunt, at any rate. Although to be honest, it almost seems like people are approaching jaunts exactly the same way before, without regard to which Arcana is playing - which I'm not certain is a good thing.

On the other hand, I have yet to investigate in phase three, so it's possible I just haven't heard of it - but what I did, afterward and on the network, wasn't exactly promising.