Demons Are From Venus

[Sierra]

<El-Cideon> The lead hunter finds a vacant tent for you all to rest in until the priestess returns. You're given water and some undisclosed kind of dried meat in stone bowls and left to your own devices. You aren't given any instructions not to poke around the settlement, though conversing with the residents might be difficult with Erin's magical translation abilities about to expire.
<Yomi> "This would be very awkward if their priestess doesn't know the divine tongue, or whatever it is that she used to talk to their goddess," Yomi notes, drinking some water to freshen herself.
<El-Cideon> "Um, I can talk to them too if I have to," Suzume says. "If Erin's all out of magic? Someone else should probably do it, though! It's not like I'm our leader or anything..."
* Yomi shrugs. "Leaders are overrated. So what do you think of these demons? It's the second time you've seen them, isn't it?"
* Ebiris is now known as Brunilda
<El-Cideon> "Are they really demons? They don't act like it. They act sort of like people...except with horns. And sharper teeth. And a lot more of them. Anyway, it sounds like there's a whole society of them out there, which isn't really how I think of demons behaving..."
<Brunilda> "Best to just call them extra-terrestrials," Brunilda suggests a less pejorative term. "A pity I never studied ancient languages as much as I could - I just can't quite get a handle on what they're saying."
<Yomi> "It's so strange to think that my training can detect aliens," Yomi muses. "I wonder if it's because I'm attuned to the world somehow, so I can sense any being who doesn't belong to it."
<El-Cideon> "Do you sense me?" Paula wonders. "I've been here for a very long time and I certainly *feel* as though I belong here. Well, on Earth, at least, if that's where we still are."
<El-Cideon> Suzume nods to Brunilda. "But you recognized the language, didn't you? Why do they speak a human language here?"
<Yomi> "Of course I do," Yomi responds. "In fact, I've been wondering about it. You feel exactly as a classical Western demon, but you don't remember being anywhere else. It's all very strange and confusing."
<Brunilda> "That's probably it. 'Hell' is likely just another world, not Earth and neither the world that these beings came from," Brunilda nods, finding that explanation likely. "I do wonder which, though... Mars and Venus are the most likely candidates... perhaps they used to dwell on Mars which is now inhospitable, while the civilisation of 'Hell' thrives below the clouds of Venus?" To Suzume,
<Brunilda> "They must have had contact with the ancient Babylonians at some point, and absorbed parts of their religion and language."
<El-Cideon> "That's true," Paula says. "I don't remember having anything one would recognize as a childhood, either. As far as I can tell, I was always just around and causing mischief. I certainly don't remember simply popping into existence one day."
* Yomi grimaces. "Can't conclusively say. They somewhat feel like Paula, but they also kind of don't. Maybe their ancestors were Western demons but then all their generations were born here and that changed things?"
<Brunilda> "Humans don't remember being born, either," Brunilda looks curiously at Paula. "But we still recall our childhood to some degree from four years onwards... although there's an interesting process where if you tell a child something at that age, describe some event or another, when they're older they often 'remember' that event as if it happened to them. The brain is a funny thing."
<El-Cideon> "Well, it could be that the memories have simply faded. One can't expect to remember every detail of her life once past her thousandth birthday, can she?"
<Yomi> "What do you remember of your life?" Yomi asks curiously. "What are the most memorable moments, or the memories you like the most?"
<El-Cideon> "I remember wars and inquisitions. These things qualify as memorable, but only in the sense that the survivors are unable to forget them rather than unwilling. I followed an army once. Soldiers need an inspiring presence to have faith in, perhaps more than most do. Although their commanding officers felt differently in the end. (more)
<El-Cideon> But these are simply events that loom in one's memory. Clouds before the stars. What I prefer to remember? Seeing children find themselves and become adults. Seeing feuds resolved and bridges mended. The real problems that face us are not often solved by the sword...Although I admit there is some grim satisfaction in smiting the unrighteous."
<Brunilda> "It's better to build than to destroy," Brunilda agrees sagely.
* Yomi snorts, shaking her head at Paula. "A part of me still can't believe that you are for real."
<El-Cideon> "More difficult, too. The path of least resistance ever calls to the ambitious." A smirk at Yomi. "And which part of you would that be?"
<Yomi> "The traditionalist in me."
<El-Cideon> "Aha. Well, all I've ever needed to convince anyone was time, and this is something I have in abundance. Of course, most don't have the benefit of knowing who I actually am."
<Yomi> "Do you know if there are others exactly like you?"
<El-Cideon> "*Exactly* like me? None that I've met, though I've never made it a habit to socialize with my own kind. When they appeared, they were simply...competition."
* Yomi nods. "Yes, exactly. You can't become a legend with just one person, right? There have to be others? As for competition, do you mean it in the 'only one of us can walk away from this' sort of way?"
<Brunilda> "Doesn't sound like much of a culture, but I suppose secrecy would be your ally and having another like you around might compromise you as well?" Brunilda asks interestedly.
<El-Cideon> "Well, again, as far as I can remember, I was always on my own. It's incorrect to assume I share a culture with any other supernatural entity you might meet, because mine was always that of the Slavs. I remember nothing else. If I met another demon, it was more than likely we were working at cross-purposes. Remember Nicolas, Yomi?"
<Yomi> "Of course! Who can forget her first master vampire?" Yomi asks her back. "But I was thinking about the exact kind of... you. You know. You did ask me not to mention what you were."
<El-Cideon> "Well, it hardly seems worth making a secret of it with the lot of you when we're sitting in a cavern surrounded by strange beings that may or may not actually be on our own world."
<Yomi> "Good point!"
<El-Cideon> "Yes. No doubt it's as unbelievable as anything else you might have to say to a stranger about your travels, by now."
<El-Cideon> "So..." Suzume says. "Did anyone else look much at those people inside the tower? Didn't that symbol on their robes look...kind of like the sun? Why would that be? They can't even see the sun down here."
* Yomi tilts her head. "We're thinking people were here, and then these demon aliens invaded? If that's true, maybe the people who were here worshipped the sun, and the demon aliens just picked it up from them?"
<Brunilda> "It might not even be the sun, it's a golden circle, yes, but it could symbolise something else," Brunilda cautions. "Better to ask one what it represents before jumping to conclusions."
<El-Cideon> "We could, couldn't we? They didn't tell us not to walk around and talk to the people here. Although I'd rather not do the talking myself...Anyway, it's so strange to see all these demons in the same place working together like...like a human society. I've never known youkai to do that."
<Yomi> "Even in that village you lived at?"
<El-Cideon> "Well...that's not really the same. Kurou talked everyone into going there himself. It wasn't like they just decided to do it themselves. And even then they mostly kept to themselves. Here, it's more like...well, that hunter talked like there was a whole nation of them somewhere."
<Brunilda> "Economies of scale," Brunilda nods. "To sustain a large population requires cooperation - some to provide food, some to build tools, some to teach... breaking down work that way allows a group to be vastly more productive than if everyone has to do everything for himself."
<Yomi> "Maybe it even extends to the other spots?" Yomi posits. "We should try to ask them, and to see if we can determine how large this space is. I do recall tracks elsewhere that clearly led to another city, although we couldn't take the flying train with us across."
<El-Cideon> Suzume nods, then shivers a little. "Building cities in caves...I can't imagine living here, with it being so dark all the time. Although this village is brighter than the last one we saw. There are torches everywhere! The other village didn't have any."
<Brunilda> "How did they see?" Brunilda asks in surprise. "Subterranean species often lose visual acuity over generations because it simply isn't needed."
<El-Cideon> "I don't know! They just...got around somehow."
<Yomi> "Isn't there a spell for it? Erin has it! She used it on me too, once!" Yomi nods to herself in recollection. "You see just fine, though it's all shades of gray."
<El-Cideon> "But they can't all have spells on them all the time, can they?"
<Brunilda> "Maybe they developed a method to do so? It sounds better than echolocation, since it would still allow the use of writing and art," Brunilda muses. "Magical evolution... incredible."
<Yomi> "Of course not. But some magic just copies what others can do," Yomi responds with a shrug. "Erin has a spell that lets her become a cloud, which is pretty much what Paula does naturally. The reverse could be true as well, don't you think?"
* Yomi nods at Brunilda. "I pretty much agree. It's the likeliest explanation so far."
<El-Cideon> "Maybe that's right. Kurou could do things like Erin can do, just...without having to learn the spells."
<Brunilda> "It's odd, though, if magic can be developed naturally in a species - history tells us time and again that if a species has an advantage it will displace its competitors. Survival of the fittest. So why hasn't magic come to dominate the world? There must be some price to it that makes it less evolutionary valid," Brunilda looks thoughtful.
<Yomi> "But can doesn't mean that it always does," Yomi points out. "Nothing says this happens to humans at large."
<El-Cideon> "Perhaps it's not as much of an advantage as is social cohesion?" Paula offers.
<El-Cideon> "Um..." Suzume starts. "In many stories about youkai, they're just a monster that some human hero has to defeat. Kurou thought people just killed most of the magical creatures because they got in the way."
<Brunilda> "Oh, certainly, I find it unlikely that if chimpanzees developed a use for magic across the entire species that they'd displace humans - our technology and culture practically sidesteps evolution entirely now," Brunilda agrees. "But would a wolf equivalent with some innate magic not displace mundane wolves?"
<Brunilda> "For humans to have cut down any emergent magical species, that means that magic as a whole must only have come into the world very recently," she adds at Suzume's explanation. "If magic bears had been around fifty thousand years ago, no human intervention could have stopped them displacing mundane bears."
<Yomi> "It probably should, unless it's not such an overwhelming boost. What if the magic just makes it twice as strong, but the wolf itself wasn't the best specimen of its species? It would certainly be able to lose in a fight, and others might gang up on it. Maybe? Animals aren't really my expertise...."
<Brunilda> "It generally works as a series of tradeoffs," Brunilda begins, happy to educate others. "Everything comes down to energy, so a species must make the optimum use of energy to fulfill its role in nature. If an animal wants stronger bones - want is an anthropomorphical term which doesn't really apply, but just follow it for the moment - it has to use up part of its energy budget for that.
<Brunilda> A neighbouring animal with the same budget might settle for weaker bones but a stronger immune system. Whichever one can survive the perils of their environment and reproduce better is more likely to pass on its genes, with offspring following much the same pattern. Perhaps magic is so energy-intensive that such creatures are sufficiently weakened in other ways without the magic overcoming
<Brunilda> those weaknesses to prove a decisive advantage?"
<El-Cideon> "Or maybe the magic changes them so they're not really the same species anymore? I don't know." Suzume stares at the floor as she talks. "I mean, Kurou could turn into a human whenever he wanted to, but I never...uh, I never had kids."
<Brunilda> "It's why blindness is common among subterranean species," she adds offhandedly, "Energy spent developing eyes is effectively wasted, so better not to bother and spend it elsewhere."
<Yomi> "So a magic bear could eat all the other bears around him or make them flee, but he probably wouldn't be able to father little magical bears? Unless he happened to chance upon another magic bear?"
<Brunilda> "A sterile mutation? Yes, that would be an evolutionary dead end..." Brunilda can't help but glance at Erin now.
* Yomi studiously does not follow Brunilda's glance.
<Brunilda> "Or perhaps the magic bears spend longer hibernating," Brunilda returns her attention to the awake people, "And so miss out on mating with other bears. There could be any number of explanations, but there must be one, some reason that magic hasn't become as common to animals as teeth and claws."
<Yomi> "If humans feared the magical beasts," Yomi wonders out loud, "how did normal animals feel about them? Would they feel instinctively threatened and strike before they have a chance of being overwhelmed?"
<El-Cideon> "How have people often felt about those among them with unusual abilities?" Paula says.
<Brunilda> "It doesn't quite work that way," Brunilda shakes her head, "If a superior lion equivalent comes into the savannah, it doesn't go to war with the existing lions as humans would do. It simply hunts the gazelle and the antelope, but does so better than the lions, causing its numbers to swell while the lion population dwindles, having to compete harder for smaller meals. Eventually the
<Brunilda> lions are gone and the superior animal is left."
* Yomi nods at Paula and Brunilda. "Then it's just us humans who lash out irrationally. Good to know."
<El-Cideon> "I wonder what that says about us," Sayuri adds in, speaking up for the first time. She's just been lying on a cot with her eyes closed.
<Yomi> "We have an ugly side. This is a part of it?"
<Brunilda> "That we recognise a threat and take steps to avoid it," Brunilda replies. "It's not the least bit irrational, it's our greatest advantage, and why we rule the Earth."
<El-Cideon> "So Erin's a threat to the mass of a humanity? Suzume's a threat?"
<Yomi> "Is it?" Yomi wonders. "If people like us were singled out and hunted down, who would deal with the undead and the fiends? Or stop Germans from breaking the seals on something that would destroy the world if freed?"
<Brunilda> "Erin and Suzume are humans," Brunilda shakes her head. "But take those 'demons' you're so fond of immediately killing. They're stronger than humans, faster, hardier, they have magic. If they came to Earth and were left unmolested to develop on their own, they would inevitably compete to take over the same niche humanity has - we have the foresight to recognise this and stop them before
<Brunilda> it's too late. The lions faced with a similarly superior competitor would simply keep doing as they have always done, never even noticing until the last lion dies, too weak and starving to hunt prey that is already becoming faster and more wary to deal with the 'superior lion equivalents'."
* Yomi shrugs. "I doubt it mattered that they were human at the witch burnings. Still, maybe we're past that by now?"
<El-Cideon> "Isn't there any way we could just...talk to each other and cooperate, Brunilda?" Suzume offers.
<Brunilda> "Those burnings were usually done to settle petty grudges or get rid of unpopular outcasts. There's no evidence of any actual magic being used - if someone tried to burn Erin she could just teleport away, after all," Brunilda points out. "It's certainly possible, Suzume, and indeed we could live quite happily with our superior brethren for even hundreds of generations - evolution doesn't
<Brunilda> work on the scale any human could observe in a lifetime. But eventually, if humans were less able than the other species, thousands or hundreds of thousands of years from now, humans would have their numbers dwindle down to nothing." She pauses, "Unless we had an advantage. If the 'demons' were physically superior but less intelligent, then our mastery of technology that would only
<Brunilda> continue to grow at a rate far outstripping any physical evolution would certainly result in the opposite outcome."
<Yomi> "So we have to stay above ground and they here, or one day one of us will die out?"
<El-Cideon> "It sounds so heartless when you explain it that way! We can only tolerate each other as long as we're equally capable?"
* Brunilda shrugs. "Homo Sapiens is hardly the only intelligent tool using primate to have evolved on this world. We did not make war on Homo Neandrethalis, not burn his villages and slaughter his children. We simply were better at building our own villages, faster at making our own children. And now Homo Neandrethalis is an interesting fossil record, nothing more."
<El-Cideon> "...I still think it sounds very cold to put it like that," Suzume says.
<Brunilda> "It has to be. It's on a scale far beyond what a human mind can personalise. Our recorded history only goes back eight or so thousand years - the last neandrethal died out fifty thousand years ago. Both they and Homo Sapiens had shared the same earth for nearly four hundred thousand years before that," Brunilda explains further. "We could co-exist with our successors for a similar period
<Brunilda> of time."
<Yomi> "Now, I know this is entirely off this topic, here," Yomi says, "but how can you get those dates?"
<Brunilda> "It's actually quite simple," Brunilda smiles, "We find fossils in the ground only at certain depths - not absolute depths like if you dig ten feet down, but relative depths based on the type of rock. This can be compared with the geologic record to give an idea of how old they are - no neanderthal fossils have been found in rocks more recent than fifty thousand years old. Fossils
<Brunilda> of both humans and neanderthals, as well as more primitive versions that are still certainly related, are found going back further. What's most interesting?" she pauses again, "About six hundred thousand years ago, the fossils for both our ancestors and the neanderthals ancestors, are the same thing. We both diverged from the same species."
<Yomi> "Yeah, that's definitely interesting!" Yomi agrees. "So you can date rocks, and then you just compare the spots where you find those rocks and bones, and you make an educated guess?"
<Brunilda> "Exactly," Brunilda nods. "There are ways of recording the rock dates with good accuracy through radiation, and in every case we've found fossils where we'd expect them to be on that scale. If you found a modern human in rocks from a million years ago, or a dinosaur in rocks from ten thousand years ago, it would completely destroy all our theories on the history of the earth - but no
<Brunilda> one's ever found such anomalies."
<Yomi> "What about caves? Like, if a tribe lived all their lives in a cave and never saw sunlight. Can you still use the same technique to get dates?"
<Brunilda> "Yes, because the caves would form their own pattern," Brunilda taps the wall beside them, "This cavern might be made of rocks that were formed fifty million years ago, but if we died here and someone dug up our skeletons two million years from now, the actual cave part we're in would show different rock patterns to that which makes up the walls of the cave around us. Even leaving aside
<Brunilda> that they'll surely have invented vastly more precise instruments by then."
<Yomi> "Morbid!" Yomi exclaims. "Well, if they do find our skeletons here, they'd also find many those of our attackers, no doubt. Still! Since every actual evidence of what happened here when the aliens came seems to be gone, could we use something like this to try and get a date estimate here? And if it means digging, maybe some of their magical artifacts were buried alongside those who
<Yomi> lived here first, and we could learn from that as well?"
<Brunilda> "If they were here long enough ago to have fossilised," Brunilda agrees. "Digging up a corpse from a grave wouldn't allow for an accurate dating because it's just too imprecise on the order of ten thousand years or so. But if there are no fossils that tells its own tale."
<Yomi> "That it's a lot more recent?"
<Brunilda> "Exactly," Brunilda nods again. "Although having a bone from their oldest burial site... or even a battleground from when they first came here, could be useful. It's a constantly advancing science, after all, and a few years from now we might be able to perform more exact dating on the bone itself. The same applies to dating the original human presence in this realm."
<El-Cideon> "Well, we have seen some bodies," Suzume says. "Those ones that get melted into the wall or floor?"
<Brunilda> "We should chip off a sample on our way out, then."
<Yomi> "Ah yes. Do you think we could try to get a better timeline by asking the aliens? If we could tell how much a generation is for them, and then ask for some folk tales, maybe? All sorts of stories get told within the family, and with a large civilization like the one they have here, they might have something useful."
<Erin> "I hate you so much..." mumbles Erin, reaching up to rub her eyes.
<Brunilda> "It's worth a try, and they're not illiterate nor would they have been when they first came here, so their history might be better preserved than our own," Brunilda agrees.
<Yomi> "Me?"
<Erin> "Huh? Oh... hello, Yomi," replies Erin, blinking.
<Yomi> "Hello, Erin. Why do you hate me?"
<El-Cideon> "Erin...who were you talking to?" Suzume asks.
<Erin> "Oh, what? That was a dream!" replies Erin, hurriedly. "It's nobody important. Ancient history. Just this guy I knew back in school."
<El-Cideon> "Oh, do share," Sayuri prods.
<Erin> "It's very childish. I'd rather not bore you."
<Yomi> "I doubt that, since you don't hate often. But okay! If you're all rested up, would you like to go and see about the demon alien priestess?"
<Erin> "It's not nice to hate," replies Erin, primly. "Oh, is she here? A demon alien? As in, from a hell from a world not our own?"
<Yomi> "Brunilda thinks Hell is Mars. Or possibly Venus! It might actually be true, who knows?"
<Erin> "Not Mercury? With Hell being characterized by both great heat and great cold, I think it would be a fitting world."
<El-Cideon> The group sets out back through the cavern. Eyes track you all the way out of the village, but no one moves to stop you from leaving.
<Yomi> "There could be more than one Hell, I guess?"
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 and gets 92."12 [1d100=92]
<Brunilda> "It's very small, though. The gravity would be feeble compared to Earth," Brunilda muses. "Perhaps that would allow for humanoid winged demons to fly... But realistically I can't imagine the temperature differential to be survivable."
<El-Cideon> "Well, some of us are very comfortable with the heat," Paula muses as you set out. You pass a small group of Grahl foraging alongside the road, picking mushrooms it looks like, but they merely watch you pass by. Within half an hour, you're back at the crossroad with the twisted rails. (more)
<Erin> "But Hell is where dead people go, supposedly. Perhaps the conditions for their... survival? Are not the same as ours."
<Brunilda> "I thought we'd agreed that hell was just a place where hostile humanoid magical beings live? I can accept that much, but you won't convince be that Galileo is suffering in some fiery pit for all eternity, thank you very much!"
<Yomi> "All the dead humans I've seen who existed past their natural death became ghosts or zombies," Yomi is happy to share. "I haven't seen their souls go elsewhere yet myself."
<Erin> "I certainly hope he is not, but the possibility of a painful afterlife remains nonetheless. For what it's worth, I don't actually think it is Mercury."
<El-Cideon> As you approach the crater, you can pick out a faintly luminous form hovering over it--at the western edge, looking down at the road as if tracking something with its eyes. It turns towards you as you draw near--a shade, like you've seen before, once-Grahl, but now...somewhat indistinct. Its presence seems larger, faint tendrils blurring the air within ten feet of it.
<Brunilda> Any witty or rational retort is torn from Brunilda by the sight ahead. "Is *that* a ghost?" she asks, hefting her strange weapon warily.
<Yomi> "Yes!" Yomi responds happily, unsheathing the Shishio.
<Erin> "Even when benign, they act in a hostile manner," notes Erin.
<El-Cideon> It snarls at you in the fluting, whispery language you heard from the villagers near the China node, then lunges forward! OOC: init
<Erin> roll 1d20+7
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+7 and gets 19."12 [1d20=12]
<Yomi> "We can try talking to it to, but in the end-- ah!"
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+5 shade
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+5 shade and gets 11."12 [1d20=6]
<Brunilda> roll 1d20+5
* Hatbot --> "Brunilda rolls 1d20+5 and gets 10."12 [1d20=5]
<Yomi> roll 1d20+1
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+1 and gets 5."12 [1d20=4]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+2 suzume
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+2 suzume and gets 5."12 [1d20=3]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+3 Sayuri
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+3 Sayuri and gets 5."12 [1d20=2]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+3 Paula
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+3 Paula and gets 20."12 [1d20=17]
* Retrieving #HometownHeroes modes...
* El-Cideon changes topic to 'Paula > Erin > shade > Brunilda > Sayuri = Suzume = Yomi'
* El-Cideon changes topic to '6Yomi: 77/77, Brunilda: 56/56, Erin: 65/65, Rena: 75/75, Suzume: 43/43, Sayuri: 65/65 Paula > Erin > shade > Brunilda > Sayuri = Suzume = Yomi'
<El-Cideon> Paula's scythe flashes into existence from thin air, then she rushes forward and swings at the apparition. "Cursed spirit! Flee to whatever afterlife suits your people!"
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+13
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+13 and gets 25."12 [1d20=12]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d100 miss chance
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d100 miss chance and gets 46."12 [1d100=46]
<El-Cideon> The shade blinks away for a second, only to reappear once Paula's weapon has passed! OOC: Erin
<Erin> Erin has a somewhat more accurate weapon at her disposal! Blue bolts fly from her fingertips, arcing in mad swerves towards the ghostly target!
<Erin> roll 4d4+4 pew pew
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 4d4+4 pew pew and gets 16."12 [4d4=3, 4, 1, 4]
<El-Cideon> Arcane force slams into the spirit, battering its ectoplasmic form. It hisses in fury and slashes with its ethereal claws at the woman before it.
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+8
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+8 and gets 24."12 [1d20=16]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d8 cold
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d8 cold and gets 5."12 [1d8=5]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d4 STR
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d4 STR and gets 1."12 [1d4=1]
<El-Cideon> Paula shivers and goes just slightly paler as the creature steals away some of her essence! OOC: Brunilda
<Brunilda> Flipping a switch, Brunilda's weapon begins to thrum gently as its capacitors rapidly build up, bringing her gamma wave pulse modulator to bear! Several lenses swing down into position as she sighs over it, lining up on the shade as the thrumming builds up to a crescendo and is finally released with a loud zapping noise, a line of white light tracing towards the monster in a tiny fraction
<Brunilda> of a second, yet shining so brightly that it sears a line onto the retinas of everyone who saw it for several seconds afterwards as the miniature gamma ray pulse does its deadly work on her target!
<Brunilda> roll 4d4+4
* Hatbot --> "Brunilda rolls 4d4+4 and gets 16."12 [4d4=4, 2, 2, 4]
<El-Cideon> The blinding ray burns through the creature's torso. It floats in midair, a hole torn through its body, howling and looking as though it's eager to turn away already! OOC: Sayuri/Suzume/Yomi, PC may as well go first if you want?
<El-Cideon> OOC: though be advised it occupies the space of a large creature and entering melee will provoke AoOs now.
<Yomi> "Ranguren!" Yomi calls out, summoning her trusted friend to tear the ghost asunder. "Devour it!"
<Yomi> roll 1d20+15 bite
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+15 bite and gets 26."12 [1d20=11]
<Yomi> roll 2#1d20+13 claws
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2#1d20+13 claws and gets 33."12 [2#1d20+13 = 18, 15]
<El-Cideon> OOC: bite hits
<Yomi> roll 2d6+7+3
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 2d6+7+3 and gets 14."12 [2d6=1, 3]
<El-Cideon> Monstrous jaws tear into it, shredding more of the spirit's form away. It wavers in and out of sight, a high whine cutting through the air. Sayuri rushes forward to finish it off!
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+13 tumble first
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+13 tumble first and gets 23."12 [1d20=10]
<El-Cideon> roll 1d20+12
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 1d20+12 and gets 20."12 [1d20=8]
<El-Cideon> roll 2d6 AP?
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 2d6 AP? and gets 8."12 [2d6=3, 5]
<El-Cideon> roll 2d6+5 damage, academic
* Hatbot --> "El-Cideon rolls 2d6+5 damage, academic  and gets 16."12 [2d6=5, 6]
<El-Cideon> Holy light crackles over the spirit's form and at last it breaks into stray wisps on the air and then fades entirely.
<El-Cideon> OOC: free act, yes.
<Brunilda> Putting the safety back on her weapon, Brunilda lowers it and approaches where the shade vanished. "It seems spirits are as likely to suffer the effects of gamma irradiation as humans, after all."
<Yomi> "But we're safe, right?" Yomi asks, suddenly worried. "Because I wasn't standing behind you."
<El-Cideon> There's no sign that the shade ever existed, now.
<Erin> "It's very precise radiation," notes Erin. "From my point of view, anyway."
<Brunilda> "Oh, yes," Brunilda reassures. "The pulse is incredibly dense and focused - you could stand half a foot away from it as it passes by and not even feel an itch."
<El-Cideon> "Let's not test that part," Sayuri says, sheathing her sword.
<Erin> "It sounds similar to the principles behind magic missile," notes Erin. "The rawest and most condensed form of magical expression."
<Yomi> "So which one's better?"
<El-Cideon> Paula waves, and her scythe vanishes again. "Hmph, ghosts. I could have sworn I struck it, but my blade passed right through."
<Erin> "Better?"
<Yomi> "Stronger, faster! Kills the dead more!"
<Brunilda> "We should have you try a magic missile on a geiger counter some time, they might be even more similar than that," Brunilda suggests.
<Erin> Erin scratches her head. "Well, magic missiles improve with the skill of the caster," she replies, nodding. "Yes. We should really keep a list of these tests as we think them up, shouldn't we?"
* Brunilda nods. "We'll have quite a lot to do when next in a lab."
<Yomi> "It's actually up to you girls. Want to continue exploring Africa once we're done here, or make a brief stop back in London?"
<Erin> "Anyway, I know that ghosts only operate partially within this dimension," continues Erin. "That's why they're difficult to strike normally. But magical missiles work every time- mmm. I wouldn't mind a trip back to London, but are you sure? Isn't the zeppelin expensive to run?"
<El-Cideon> Sayuri shrugs. "If you're running out of money, just steal someone else's. Isn't that how this group funds its travels?"
<Erin> Erin coughs. "Not anymore?" she replies, abashed.
<Brunilda> "We might as well continue our tour while we're here rather than turn back so quickly. We might learn more as we travel anyway," Brunilda shrugs. "Gamma radiation is actually interesting in that it passes through everything, so blocking it is all but impossible."
<Erin> "Ooh, I just thought of another test," muses Erin. "We won't even need a lab to do it!"
<Yomi> "I'll never run out of money, but if we come across horrible demon-summoning people, we can take their cash from them," Yomi asserts. "That would be great, actually!"
<El-Cideon> "Hopefully you don't also need volunteers?" Sayuri says, eyeing Erin warily.
<Erin> "No, I'm willing to stake my body for science. I might need a doctor."
<El-Cideon> Suzume nods. "I can do that!"
<Brunilda> "Will you be following the brave tradition of Marie Curie?" Brunilda asks dubiously.
<Erin> "Er... well, we'll work out the details later, but I want to test magical shielding techniques on your radiation, too," replies Erin, frowning. "Perhaps I can find a way that won't be so, um, delibitating..."
<Brunilda> "Well, could you put a shield around something other than yourself, like a rat?" Brunilda suggests.
<Erin> "There's a method to generate a free-standing ward that should intercept any magic passing into it," replies Erin, thoughtfully. "We'll give it a try later. Not while the zeppelin is moving. It won't move with the zeppelin."
<Yomi> "Yes, that sounds very horrible!"
<El-Cideon> The rails continue on to the east, and soon enough lead you to a city. The style of architecture is familiar to you by now: mostly domes, rounded structures formed without visible seams, few hard edges. Considerable destruction occurred here at some point--buildings are blackened, scorched, and tumbled in without any apparent pattern. (more)
<El-Cideon> In time, the rails lead you to a broad plaza. Tiled ground underfoot, concentric knot patterns in blue and white, tiles blown away and burned in patches here and there. A wide stone road passes perpendicular to this, going north and south. (more)
<El-Cideon> To the side of the road on the south is a low stone rim, what looks like it might have been a fountain once, passing out of sight. As you arrive, you can see a squad of Grahl, lightly armored in gleaming white and gold, engaged in combat. One of them strikes a shade with a glowing mace, then the spirit howls and vanishes.
<Brunilda> "Lets give them a hand?" Brunilda suggests, her weapon beginning to audibly thrum again as she charges up the capacitors!
<Erin> Erin incants her spell of conversation as soon as she sees the Grahl, in preperation!
<Yomi> "Hey!" Yomi calls out in English, approaching the aliens. "Priestess Grish? Are you there?"
<El-Cideon> They turn, weapons ready--though after a moment the one with the mace raises a hand and the four others stand down. The lead figure walks forward, weapon still in hand. Stiff leather hauberk over white robes, a gleaming gold circle short through with jagged lines prominent on the chest. "Strangers," she says from twenty feet off. "Announce yourselves."
<Erin> "My name is Erin! We are travellers from another world, and we seek to speak to the Priestess!"
<El-Cideon> "You have found her," she says. It's hard to be sure with strange creatures and strange languages, but there's a certain terseness to her speech. "Which world? More importantly, what are you?"
<Erin> "We are humans, from Earth," replies Erin.
<Yomi> "Where are you from?" Yomi helpfully adds.
<El-Cideon> "These words mean nothing to me. A distant cavern, this Earth?" Her gaze swivels to Yomi. "I guide the settlement to the south, in the cavern of broken light. It will acquire a formal name once we have reclaimed this city."
<Yomi> "Pretty distant. Well, you call yourselves... Grahl, right? So we're Humans, that's all."
<Yomi> It takes some effort for Yomi not to look at Paula.
<El-Cideon> "Grahl? A name for insignificant tribes. We are the Eridani."
<Erin> "Seperate tribes you may be, but is there no common name you all share?"
<Yomi> "Ah, so it's a tribe name!" Yomi nods in realization. "We misunderstood this, and if it happened here, well..." She gestures for the symbol of the sun. "What do you call that? Maybe we're wrong on what this means as well."
<El-Cideon> "This?" There's surprise in her voice as she traces the circle. "The light of Ishtar, which burns forever over the sacred city of Eridu and Lake Apsu. You know naught of this? You hail from far away indeed. (more)
<El-Cideon> "'Grahl' is a name we find used for self-reference among many savage tribes," she adds with a shrug.
<Yomi> "Where is the sacred city of Eridu and Lake Apsu?" Yomi questions. She glances upwards briefly. "Not here, right? Because I don't see it burning."
<El-Cideon> "Far to the east. Many weeks' travel. I have only seen it once. I hail from Urgesh, a smaller--yet still great--city some days from here. And you are correct--the sun here was shattered by the Dark One in her jealousy. In time, if we serve well, it will be lit again. As will they all."
<Erin> "We have been told that the religion of Ishtar is new to this land," says Erin. "In fact, this is why we sought you out- we wish to hear of how it came here, and.. how you are spreading it."
<Yomi> "And about the origins it describes, of course. About the Dark One, and how the sun was shattered. All that. Would you mind teaching us?"
<El-Cideon> "These caverns, and many others, were once blocked to us. Great curses woven into stone cylinders by the Dark One would strike down all who drew near. Through Ishtar's will the spell is broken now, and we move to make these forsaken caverns Her own once again. (more)
<El-Cideon> "The Dark One, the Queen of Death, is Ereshkigal--do not speak her name lest you draw her attention, though I of course am protected--opposes our work on all fronts. The Golden Goddess's shadow, jealous of all Her great works. I can teach you, yes--this is part of my function. I have questions of my own for you in turn."
<El-Cideon> OOC: K:H can be rolled on the name if you have it
<Yomi> "Sure. We're very interested in the stone pillars you mentioned, and obviously anything having to do with them as well. Answering a few questions in return is not an issue."
<Erin> roll 1d20+11
* Hatbot --> "Erin rolls 1d20+11 and gets 20."12 [1d20=9]
<Brunilda> roll 1d20+18
* Hatbot --> "Brunilda rolls 1d20+18 and gets 30."12 [1d20=12]
<Yomi> roll 1d20+6
* Hatbot --> "Yomi rolls 1d20+6 and gets 26."12 [1d20=20]
<El-Cideon> Somehow everyone's heard this one. Another Babylonian deity, Ereshkigal was goddess of the underworld. Yomi and Brunilda can also recall that she was supposedly Ishtar's sister in mythology.
<Yomi> Nasty sibling rivalry! Yomi is somewhat glad she is an only child at the thought.
<Brunilda> "The Dark One is Ishtar's sister, Goddess of the Underworld," Brunilda supplies for Erin after translations.
<Yomi> "Does it mean that the Dark One made the pillars? Or did she merely curse them?"
<El-Cideon> "The curse pillars? Created by the Dark One's servants and then bestowed with her evil power. Any who approached them would be afflicted with a great bleeding until claimed by death. Only one of many means by which the Dark One seeks to bar our progress. Her servants, the corrupted souls that seek to steal the life of all they touch, are perhaps familiar to you if you walk these caverns?"
<Brunilda> "The pillars cause disease to these people? Ereshkigal unleashed sixty diseases upon Ishtar when she descended to the Underworld, so the story goes," Brunilda adds for Yomi.
<Erin> "How is it that these pillars are overcome?"
<El-Cideon> "Ishtar's power swells with the ranks of those who follow Her in the light. Once we were few, in the days after the catacylsm when the Queen of Death threw the world into darkness. But now the Golden Goddess need only reach out Her will to crush the evil spells. In time, no doubt, She will send us to far Kutha itself to strike down the Dark One in her lair."
<Erin> "So it is now possible for the curse pillars to be destroyed as you come across them?" asks Erin, hoping that the tongues spell keeps faint despair out of her voice.
<Yomi> "Kutha? Where's that?" Yomi asks, more worried over that part.
<El-Cideon> "That is the work of the Goddess herself. We, her humble servants, are yet as insects before the spells woven into the pillars. Just as well, for all those in these western caverns have now been disabled. My settlement is only one of several now pushing forward into this frontier. (more)
<El-Cideon> There is another some days' travel to the south. Where I am told Priestess Drun now hunts a heretic," she adds with some obvious distaste. "Kutha? Far to the east of Eridu. I have not been that far east of the holy city. Few have, now. The Dark One collapses the tunnels leading to her kingdom out of fear."
<Yomi> "There is something you really should know. Traveling from the east, we've come across this knowledge," Yomi says insistently. "There is a larger curse, we might say, placed upon all of the pillars. They cause injury, pain and death, but if enough of them are destroyed, an evil being we have no name for will be released from its entrapment to the north-east from here. If that happens,
<Yomi> it would rend the world asunder, killing all of us."
<El-Cideon> The priestess's lips draw back, making those rows of jagged teeth very much apparent. "So you say. I have heard such stories spread by other tribes. Superstition spread by the Dark One's servants to further her own ends. But I can hardly fault you for your ignorance, coming from so far that you know naught of the Goddess herself." A speculative look: "There are many others like you, where you hail from?"
<Erin> "Indeed," replies Erin. "Where we are from, light shines freely throughout the world, and we exist in great multitudes."
<Yomi> "Plenty. And well, you know, they say that ignorance is easily cured with knowledge. Do you mind telling us more about your Goddess? Describing her? Recounting her visitation with you?"
<El-Cideon> Another look at Yomi. "You travel from the east, you say? I do not see how this is possible. The bulk of the Eridani reside to the east, yet you know nothing of us and I have heard nothing of people like you travelling through our caverns. I have seen none like you before except among the corrupted, when they mimic our Goddess's form to taunt us. But you can hardly be such, as the corrupted feed alone." Another one of those toothy expressions before she continues. (more)
<El-Cideon> "You leave me...uncertain. But if you ask about Goddess Ishtar? I hardly need describe Her, as She manifests herself in a shape much like yours. This...is a fact which makes meeting you a perplexing thing. But there is an idol in my settlement if you wish to bask in Her glory. I myself have not had the honor of being in Her presence."
<Erin> "May I ask, what powers did the Goddess demonstrate to you, besides shattering the pillars?"
<Yomi> "We have a flying ship," Yomi responds. "You'd be surprised where it can go. I can't really convince you I'm from the east, but I suppose it doesn't matter to me that much if you believe it about me. We did hear that several others, much like us, came here a few months ago. Uniforms, blonde hair, strange weapons? Does it sound fmailiar?"
<El-Cideon> To Erin: "You would not need to ask this had you seen the light of Eridu. It shines with such strength and ferocity. One is never cold in the great cavern, and in this light grow bountiful plants that feed far more of us than any savage tribe could find hunting insects and mushrooms. This is Her gift, and in time it will be shared with all cities of the Eridani. (more)
<El-Cideon> To Yomi: "None of this is familiar to me, but this cavern was closed to us until recently."
<Yomi> "How recently? And how did you know it was alright to approach it?"
<El-Cideon> "A band of scouts saw a group of howlers emerge from the cursed cavern, even though none had been seen to enter it. It was surmised that the creatures came from the other side of the cursed pillar, Ishtar's will having broken it, and this was confirmed by the high priestess once relayed to Eridu."
<Yomi> "Hey, would we be allowed to visit Eridu if it's a holy city for the Eridani?"
<El-Cideon> A pause. "I would need to confirm this with my superiors. Your appearance is...an unusual occurrence."
<Yomi> "I keep getting this nagging feeling that there is a key misunderstanding here, between us. And when in doubt, you must go straight to the source of it all to resolve things decisively." Yomi glances at her friends. "What do you think? We'll go back to the ship, gather supplies, consult with Myriam, maybe, and then return?"
<Brunilda> "Visting the centre of their civilisation could be an enlightening experience," Brunilda readily agrees.
<Erin> "I cannot remain silent much longer, Yomi," murmurs Erin. "Sooner or later, we must tell them."
<Yomi> "And, you know, it's not all about us, too," Yomi says next. "We'll invite you to come with us! So you can see where we live, too. That way we both would understand each other better."
<El-Cideon> "The Eridani would, in time, have every interest in visiting your caverns," Grish says.
<Yomi> "Oh, but I think that you would be very, very interested in seeing what we have available. Wouldn't you like to see the ship that can travel around those collapsed tunnels, and much faster than one can walk?"
<Erin> "One or two could travel to our world with us. I do not think it is anything like you would expect," replies Erin. "It is a journey, I feel, that one of your priests must make, for the sake of knowledge."
<El-Cideon> "I cannot abandon my responsibilities here. This is, again, a decision that must be made by superiors in the hierarchy."
<Yomi> "Fine, I can understand that. How long do you believe that would take?"
<El-Cideon> "Sending the message? Moments. Awaiting an answer? Perhaps a matter of days. They must consult precedence, determine whether I am in fact the proper emissary for such a voyage, and send a replacement if I am."
<Yomi> "I propose that we meet here in a few days. Say, four of them? Oh, and by here I'm thinking of your settlement." Yomi gestures to indicate the direction. "We came across it by chance, and thus were directed to find you here. Is this acceptable?"
<Erin> "We will return to the unnamed city within the week, then," states Erin. "I hope you have your answer by then."
* Yomi glances at Erin. "A week? Well, that also works."
<El-Cideon> "This is acceptable. I will instruct the guards to remain watchful for your arrival. The journey itself will be a matter of weeks, but as you already hail from strange and distant lands I must assume you are accustomed to the hardships of such a voyage."
<Yomi> "There is that. Plus, if the tracks are not broken along the way, we might be able to use them to speed things up?" Yomi blinks. "You wouldn't happen to have a map of your lands, would you?"
<El-Cideon> "It is not with me at present. One may be provided upon your return."
<Yomi> "Excellent. I look forward to it. We all do, I'm sure. Do you want us to bring anything of our own? Is there anything your people require?"
<Erin> "We will bring with us images of our own world for your perusal," states Erin. "If you require it, certain items may be procured."
<El-Cideon> "Examples of your weaponcraft, perhaps? Such things are always of use to us."
<Erin> Erin's face sours. "We will consider it."
<Yomi> "We usually tend to leave the exchange of weapons for a second meeting at the very least," Yomi expands on that. "Well, then. I must say it has been a pleasure, and quite informative to meet with you, Priestess Grish."
<El-Cideon> "Very well. My work for this day is not yet complete, but I will relay your request to my superiors upon my return to the village."
<Erin> "I hope it has been equally enlightening for you, with a promise of more to come."
<El-Cideon> "May Ishtar's light scour the shadows where you walk," she says, before turning and walking off to the south.
<El-Cideon> ~