(no subject)

[claudiometer]

Okay, guys, I'm trying to catch up but you got network-happy, there's kind of A Lot. And we should probably have it in once central place anyway.

What do we know about Jauntzilla? How the entire fuck are we supposed to fight these things? Hypatia's more worried about getting her expedition on the road while there's still people to go on it, but she'd prefer to have a home to come back to. I'm de-infiltrating myself when we get back, that's for damn sure.

[And later, after it comes up that Nation-Eaters are vulnerable to electricity:]

Right. So we've all agreed the time for subtlety is over. Who wants a Tesla? I'll make as many as I can when the party's not on. Free lightning you don't have to call on liminal bullshit to produce.

Comments

[thornsofmalkav]

I can heal psychically, yeah. I know a couple of people who can. Whether it can be taught as a Vale Art? That, I have no clue. You generally need a fair amount of brain 'oomph' to do it, so it would probably summon a Nation-Eater in the process.

[fearinahandfulof]

Healing enough to reveal the tampering takes an hour - a bit less if you're very good at it. Removing the tampering entirely would probably take up to a few days.

The person I was able to partially heal hadn't seen a 'Vale Art' like mine before. He was hoping the Calculator Council could figure out something that might work similarly, but I don't know how long that would take them.

[thornsofmalkav]

Oh huh. That's-- interesting. If kinda wonder if maybe you guys ought to wake me up in Chara when we go back, so I can help with that shit.

[fearinahandfulof]

I could do that, if you wanted.

[thornsofmalkav]

Would you? She's a Cleritor, so she's got the right kinda training that I wouldn't overwhelm her and send her back to sleep. And then I can make sure Joscelin wakes up, because he doesn't want to be Ios again any longer than he has to. Which, like, is hella fair. Ios is basically his worst self.

And I could Ectoplasmically Embody someone too, if we needed me to.

[fearinahandfulof]

All right.

...And I think I've figured out the cloning thing we were talking about, so if more than one person ends up needing that, I can help.

[thornsofmalkav]

Oh excellent. I'm, like, nearly there, but I was prioritizing finding other non-Jaunt worlds first. Good news! I think I've found mine, but I haven't quite got to the point where I can bridge over yet.

[fearinahandfulof]

How would you do that? ...Or is there something in place preventing it?

[The Arcana have to be able to stop people who can or want to go home from doing so somehow...]

[thornsofmalkav]

I'm still working on... shit, I'm trying to think of the right words for it? Translating where it is to something liminal space understands. I'm not sure if it's just that I'm being slow at figure that out or if liminal space is curtailed in where it connects to when Synodiporia is in play.

[fearinahandfulof]

I think in this case, it's something even Fortune would have an interest in deliberately curtailing. Otherwise, a lot of people would leave once they figured out how, and that would cause too much chaos for their game. They'd have to replenish their ranks a lot more often.

[protect_and_serve]

Thank you.

[fearinahandfulof]

[There is the mental equivalent of a confused blink.]

You're... welcome?

[protect_and_serve]

I don't want to be that man longer than I have to.

[fearinahandfulof]

[Oh. She really should have made that connection; hadn't Thorne just mentioned Joscelin and Ios?]

...Right. You're - you're welcome.

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

Imagine the horror of coming to know what horror was inflicted on you unknowingly.

Imagine the loyalty of one freed from such shackles, by one who was likewise betrayed, and who humbly offers to earn from them what was taken by Ghalib.

I am not opposed to a ruler that can save the Vale, for all Ghalib was not it. There is your army, indoctrinated honestly.

[thornsofmalkav]

[Thorne's mental voice is very flat.]

I don't have to imagine that shit, Bern. I've already lived it.





... that said, that's an interestingly sneaky plan and if I happen to be half-Infiltrating after this dance break, I might very well go with it. I don't think there's so many cultists yet that we couldn't hit all of them.

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

...unfortunately, I can well imagine too. It is not something to be taken as lightly as I did.

You know both that I... was... the cruelest Witch, and how I became so. It rhymes with Chara, if it is not the same. More so with Beatrice, and with *Hyun-Ae in her time with us.

If her suffering is to have meaning it could have a worse one than being the opposite and equal of that, ah, right-thinking man.

[thornsofmalkav]

I do know.

Chara-- she didn't suffer like you're thinking, Bern. She didn't always have an easy life, nobody did, but Ghalib... hers was the one mind he didn't touch. I know that much. Honestly, the worst crimes committed against her were done as much by their loving parents as they were by Ghalib and that was teaching her that she didn't have much purpose besides helping him and being a womb for his heir. And that was bad enough.

You've got to understand, she fell in love with fucking Ios because he came the closest to seeing her--and he never actually understood what he was seeing. Ios. The Travelers showing up, Alcuin breezing into town and teaching her writing and science and shit-- it fucking transformed everything for her. She's thinking in ways that she never could before.

But like. He didn't hurt her physically. He didn't violate her mind. He discounted her and her capabilities, but that's not the same thing. He loved her and she loved him back and that's the fucked up thing. There was all this love and care between them, but that didn't stop him from treating her like she was this cute little baby that never grew up and never would. It's-- a kind of pain. But it's not the kind of suffering that you're thinking of.




When I say I've lived it, I mean I did as myself. And no, I won't go into detail. But it's what made me a Witch, acknowledged by Bea.

[butthemiracleneverhappen]

...to turning men who make furniture of people into kindling, then.

And to Queen Chara the Learned. Or Just. Or Redeemer.

...or Hopeful.

[thornsofmalkav]

She wants her title to be Soteira. Savior. Which is kinda funny, because Shekinah called me that when we first talked.



But yeah, to Chara Soteira, may she wrench the Vale into a new age of Science and Literacy. Provided that everybody doesn't die.

[Private]

[helborn]

... I understand a tiny bit of it. I can't understand all of it.

But I'm here if you need to talk. Or just watch dumb movies or something.

private x2 protection

[thornsofmalkav]

I might want to eventually. Not yet, though. I need to get our party organized so we can do the requisite dancing shit to keep our Hosts from biting it.

[helborn]

Understandable. I'm around whenever, just let me know.

[thornsofmalkav]

Sure. It-- might be after the Jaunt is over. And honestly, you already know some of it, just by virtue of wandering into my dungeon. The shit I didn't want to tell Bern about was... basically all the shit with Dr B.

[helborn]

... Yeah, I figured. But I'm still around if you need an ear, if you need to say it again to remind yourself that you're not there, you're with us and you're okay.

or if you just want to watch dumb movies or something and eat popcorn and throw it at each other. Whatever you need.