Gathering those Plot Bunnies [very end of week two]

[ninjayeehaw]

Alright, so - never thought I'd be sayin' this, but - thanks t'Zed, I think I got a workin' idea 'f what's been happenin' behind the scenes here.

'cos without him, Yakumo wouldn't a' gotten turned back into an Investigator. First thing he done did was find me an' tell me how the Titans're throwin' a coup a' the gods. He ain't got too much info yet - turns out storm spirits ain't got the greatest sense a' focus - but at least one a' them's a Traveller, that English wizard guy.

[you know, the other one]

An' Galen, Tachibana's overlay, said that when he went t'go talk t'em earlier--

[And a memory of Galen's voice, sullenly furious, speaks.]

"Something has bewitched the gods and dulled them to blindness. For the barest fleeting moment there was intelligence in Apollo's eye, but it dulled like embers in ice, leaving only disinterested arrogance in its wake."

[And then back to Kinji's own.]

--so they're doin' somethin' directly t'mess with the gods an' make 'em complacent in their own demise.

So here's where it gets tricky. Yakumo thinks he can get me an in with the Titans - the storm spirits seem t'have all taken a likin' t'me, and they're already in on whatever the hell this plan is with the Titans, so unless there's any volunteers, I'll be goin' an sneakin' into that.

An' that means somebody else oughta try goin' back up the mountain t'try an' talk some sense into the gods. An' I reckon y'all might be able t'do that with some kinda skill that can clear their minds. I know there's a Song fer that, I can pass that on if'n someone needs it, but there's gotta be other ways that work better. If teleportin' or climbin's too far, I can make some kites an' Yakumo an' the other storm spirits can fly people up the mountain. It ain't too safe but it's a right sight faster than teleportin' or climbin' on foot.



...so. Thoughts?

Comments

[whydoyoushine]

You're welcome.

[ninjayeehaw]

Can I at least ask why?

{he knows you well enough, Zed. You don't do charity]

[whydoyoushine]

...because he was really damn annoying, and I wanted him to stop trying to take my stuff and blow me and Mr. Sparkles over.

It was like when the ToQGers blow up a Shadow Monster, I think.

[cloudpotter]

[there is some annoyed crackling covering over Yakumo's words, not dissimilar to a phone being held up in the wind. he's still getting hang of this 'wind spirit' thing.]

It was nothing like that.

[professorwolf]

They can hear infiltrator telepathy, as well, so there may be some network skill that can help get through to them, as well.

In the meantime, let me prowl about the mountain and see if I can come up with anything... if all else fails, perhaps another vision will hit me at some point and give us some insight.

[ninjayeehaw]

Yakumo ain't no Shadow Monster. [and if you say that again Kinji's gonna beat your ass Zed]

[ninjayeehaw]

That'd be mighty useful. I ain't got too much in the way a' psychic skills, but there's gotta be somethin' besides Clearin' the Mind that oughta be able t'help 'em out.

[And not just because he's still uncomfortable enough with Song that he doesn't want to actually teach it.]

An' usin' Song means people can't actually talk, so it'd be harder logistics-wise.

[dreamingking]

How convenient! This saves me the effort of making an announcement on my own.

If this "English wizard guy" of yours is Matthew, his overlay is searching for something in the Temples of Apollo. He went through the ones in the area within a very short period of time, and the doors opened to him without protest. Whatever he's looking for, it's on the large side, and he's incredibly frustrated about not locating it. Unfortunately, he gave me the slip when I attempted to follow him after his intrusion into one of the temples.

[ninjayeehaw]

Might just be, cos it sure as hell ain't Yakumo an' I don't know any other British wizards kickin' 'round here.

Yakumo didn't say what he was searchin' for, either. Can't make any guesses, I ain't too familiar with Greek mythology. I'll see if I can't get any word on it if I get in his good books.

[dreamingking]

I would lean towards minor god or demigod myself, which gives us a place to start looking.

A minor detail I noticed, however, is that Matthew's overlay was... Well! I won't call it kind or compassionate, and he certainly isn't a cat lover, but he also waited until I'd exited the treasure vault before closing it again. It could be an important fact, or inconsequential.

[professorwolf]

Well, you'd have to do your singing in concert with another person, I imagine, to handle the talking for you. Though perhaps clearing their heads might be enough to make them realize, themselves, that something is off.

Do we have any leads on who exactly are the titans behind this? Besides Matthew, I mean. It's entirely possible others involved are also Travelers, someone we know, since in many cases like this important roles are taken up by people the Arcana can manipulate to some extent.

[not_the_question]

And just how do you plan to clear the minds of gods? They're gods, isn't the point of being a god that you're stronger and better than everyone else?

[That's usually how people define the Doctor when they call him a god.]

It's not like they're a computer and you can just turn them off and on again. Unless... they are a computer and you can do that.

[maximumest]

I didn't think there'd actually be someone specific to pin all of this on. Do we beat up these Titans now?

[mightypen]

Be careful around the Titans.

Not all of them are nice, and they're just as strong as their nice's and nephews... or kids. They might even be stronger considering what's going on.

[leftbehindagain]

We can't talk sense into the gods, though. That's the problem.

Kanji had another chat with Chariot before this got started, and according to what he got out of that, Chariot and Tower have the same essential goal - what makes the difference is how that goal's carried out. Looking at the situation we're dealing with, the goal's pretty clear at this point.

The coup needs to be successful. Boxing Tower out of the match is going to come down to not letting it be successful by way of 'chaos and fire everywhere.' Your in with the Titans might help a lot with that.

[seestheworld]

In that vein, Shinji's overlay might or might not be useful. He's been dosing 'interesting' people with something that's supposed to provide protection from the gods. Somehow.

[Pun not intended.]

[seestheworld]

Shinjiro Aragaki's overlay seems to be providing 'protection' for people who seem likely to end up facing gods at some point, so I'm going to guess he's one of them. Which titan he might be, I'm not sure.

[fridgeninja]

Unless we don't want either of them to win.

What's most important should be what's best for the people here, not what the Arcana want.

[helborn]

[He was going to offer advice on the gods having issues, but the mention of 'Titans' throws that all out the window. The tone that comes through isn't like Casper's usual cheery outward emotional state, but cold, angry, and fierce.]

If they're anything like the Titans I know, then sneaking in isn't advised, ninja skills or no ninja skills. Maybe they're not as mindless creatures of destruction as I know them, but they're not to be underestimated, no matter how good you think you are. We need information, yes, but getting anywhere near them is an awful plan.

Giving them any sort of aid is probably going to hand a win over to Tower, and from my understanding most people weren't for that. Unless I'm wrong?

[professorwolf]

So the goal is to take down the gods? Interesting. I suppose that does fit with Chariot being about progress, and sticking with the gods is not progress.

But how to make it a peaceful transition, is the thing, then. We definitely need to find the titans in question, then, and at least come to understand their motives and what their current tactics are. From what I know of mythology and my singular run-in with Apollo, the Greek gods aren't terribly good, to begin with, but we don't want to replace them with something worse.

[professorwolf]

I don't suppose knowing which titans from mythology they are really matters. We just need to discover their motives and methods, and perhaps also their morals? If Naoki is correct and the goal here is in fact to overthrow the gods, I want to make sure we're replacing them with someone decent, or else not replacing them at all.

[leftbehindagain]

And you can't say what's best for the people here isn't changing the existing order.

[leftbehindagain]

This is definitely going to be a tricky one.

[leftbehindagain]

...That's... concerning.

[photonicfighter]

I don't think it's going to be as easy as that. Sadly.