Prologue: E-mails

[Brian]

From: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')
To: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')

Re: .nfo overload

The Oracle used to be a living person before she was killed and bottled for convenience.  Well, not really a bottle.  But Cassandra's spirit was touched by Apollo, so she'd be reborn.

As each incarnation of the Oracle of Delphi.  This worked out okay, until the order that was (at the time) called the Knights Templar found the Order of Symetry's secret hideout ... which had me (well, a few dozen incarnations before Ayame, actually) in it.

They didn't have an oracle of their own at the time, but the oracle wouldn't serve them, so ... they killed her, and trapped her spirit.  They used it to divine auguries, trying to find better and more useful tools to bind the spirit to.

Eventually, the iteration before Ayame was destroyed, and then the new bits were put into a computer.  Ayame couldn't figure out a way to get out of where we're trapped, though.  So I'm stuck as an AI.

At least the internet's pretty big.

Anyway.  I don't really know for sure about Manos or Ceran.  I imagine they have stories that are similar, at least.  Either way, they serve their factions and try to further their purposes.  Which Ayame, even with YOUR help, was never allowed to remember.

I think that she chose to die and let me be, because I'd be free of some of the restrictions that were holding her back.  At least, it makes sense to me.  It's sad, but not too sad, because she's a part of me.  She IS me, kind of.  And I'm her.

So I guess we are a little freer than we were before.

Thanks to a little deus ex machina from the Brotherhood of Morpheus, anyway.

I wonder if she planned that?

I don't remember about the Order of Symetry.  I remember that it was something big, and that it was something that the three factions vied for control over ... something about a contest.  Huh.

I wish I could see clearly, but someone out there is actively trying to surpress my ability to see ahead.  I think maybe it's because there's an imbalance with Uncle Raspy all locked away in your hard-drive, and inactive.  He-he-he-he!

Oh.

Well, bits of him anyway.  I guess he really is broken, now....

Give me a few hours to try and get some more of the database onto my own servers, 'kay Rez-baby?

[Rezantis]

From: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')
To: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')

Subject: .nfi, yo!

I had the sneaking suspicion that pieces of him might be part of what I was decrypting, but I also figured that backing up something like you would be . . . incomplete, at best.  >_>

Oh well.  Yah, yah, do have fun.  We're going to try and figure out a couple of things here, and don't call me that.  <_<

--N

[Rezantis]

From: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')
To: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')

Subject: Questions, questions . . .

A few questions for you, she who dispenses wisdom and knowledge in the way of the pez dispensers of yore . . .

Main question.  Ezmereth.  We're going to go and see him - hopefully - tomorrow night.  Two points:  Do you know anything about him?  I remember Ayame mentioning him to Shade . . .

Also, it might be a trap, I don't trust the guy who told us the meeting place and time.  If you don't get an email from me within 48 hours after I leave, try and get hold of either dracos12@hotmail.com or Bjorn - ***@***.***

They should be trustworthy.  If you can't get either, use your discretion.  :/

Ahm.  In my dream last night, I saw that whole scene with the knight and Rasputin and Ayame - you saw me, then you vanished, etc.  

I was wondering how I saw that.  <_<  I mean, I dream rarely, and the only other time I've dreamed like that was when Ayame dragged Drac and I into the dreamworld, but she said she did that via Shade.  So I'm wondering if you know how I got to see that, or if you know who might have caused me to see it.

Dracos also had a weird dream (well, everyone did), but . . . his symbol back in the temple was the Green Man, and Drac saw him in his dream last night.  I was sorta wondering if there was any significance you knew of.

Oh.  And in your around-pokings, if you see any mention of Brian Randall or Sterling Dubert, could you let us know?  We have many, many suspicions (and questions for said people), but all we have is a lot of scattered references that are gradually coming together.  :/

I hate being this out of my depth.  <_<;;

--N

[Brian]

From: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')
To: Rez-baby ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')

Re: Yams, yams, yams, yams.

Sorry about the delay, Rezzykins.

So, I've spent a while digging through Unkie Raspie's old stuff.  Man, that database is pointless.  It could be WAY more optimized.  Anyway, they say that Ezmereth as a mighty big bad-dude, and they had to lock him away to keep him from making their guards and such go splat.

They got their girl, some Agent Taylor (Jessica Taylor, I got everything but her three sizes, if you need it) to actually hold his mind in place, because Taylor's got some ability that lets her change other people's thoughts, and she's making Ezzy think he wants to stay there.

But Ezzy's an old spirit of the land, so someone bigger and badder than the Workshop guys comes in and just blasts a tunnel straight down into the ground and tells Ezzy it's time to take a hike.  Ezzy agrees, and he's gone, and Agent Taylor tries to wrap her mind around this new guy's head.  He takes a piece of her mind -- the part that lets her control other people, and hightails it out of there.  But they don't know where he goes, because as far as they can tell, this big bad Wanderer dude (who is the 'terrorist incident' preceeding Ezzy's earthquakes that pretty much brought S.F. down) just vanished into thin air.

So Taylor's still got a few tricks up her sleeves, one of which is that she can kinda do what the Brothers of Morpheus do.  She can walk around in the dream world.  But the Brothers of Morpheus don't like her much, so they curtail her one method of chasing down this Wanderer guy.  She goes nuts over this because, hey, someone stole a piece of her mind.

That's what I pieced together from the report.  The real words were much nicer, and said that Taylor drove the Wanderer away.

As far as Sterling goes, he's rated B-7 or higher, for what that's worth.  He was tied to a couple of other people.  I'll dig their files up for you if you want.

Sorry, I'm rambling.  But that tied into your friend Brian.  Well, no, but they thought it did, and I guess it still could....

I didn't send you the dream, though.  If you see a Brother of Morpheus in a dream, though, it usually means that they wanted you to see them.  They don't let normal people know they're around.  It makes them more real, when they just want to be dreams, or something.

So Ezmereth is an old spirit of the land.  Actually, he's a Titan.  He's a real short Titan, but he's one of the original sons of Gaia, from what Ayame remembers.  From his files, he's a little guy who's older than civilization, has tons of kick-butt power, and doesn't respond well to tests.  Though, Taylor was still able to push his mind around before the Wanderer showed up.

That's pretty much all I know about it.  He's not trustworthy or untrustworthy, as far as I can tell, because he doesn't usually care about human beings one way or another.

[Brian]

From: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')
To: Rez-baby ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')

Re: Jolly Mean Giant

Oh, yeah, the Green Man thing.  Ayame said not to tell your friend, because it would be bad if he remembered the wrong way.  Just give him time.  ;)

[Rezantis]

From: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')
To: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')

Subject: That's NOT my name.

Witch.

Anyway.  Yah, could you pull the files on Sterling Dubert and his associates?  And I'd be -very- interested if you had any idea what happened to him.  The file on Jessica Taylor would be good too, since we did in fact run into her down there, and Bjorn seems to know her.

And you capitalized 'Wanderer'.  Something interesting there, or just your sense of humour?  :P

BTW.  I'm curious.  Why 'Relm'?  o_O;;

--N

[Brian]

From: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')
To: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')

Re: That's NOT my name.

Nyah! :D

Not much on Sterling's crew.  They were associated with your friend Brian, but they lost touch with him (as far as the Workshop knew) around the time things went downhill.  They're still active, causing trouble for the Pax Arcana and Seventh Cabal wherever they can, but since they haven't been caught, their full abilities aren't know.  There's five or six of them, and one has some form of machine-only mind control, so security systems tend not to see them.

Spooky!

And the Wanderer is what the Workshop calls him.  Handed down to THEM from Seventh Cabal supervisors who know more about it then they did.  I assume it's some form of ancestral title, or position, rather than a specific person ... but I could be wrong!

Taylor's files are pretty big.  The gist of them is that she started to go downhill mentally pretty quick after the Wanderer attacked the Workshop and spring Ezzy.  She was born in Ohio, reqruited by the Workshop when she was 17, after some Seventh Cabal scouts found out about her (she could see them coming, so it took them a while to corner her), used the Workshop to hone her abilities to control other people's mind, and then was a good agent for about eight years.

Up to the day their file structure became a sploded, anyway.  So she was doing pretty good two weeks ago!

And I'm Relm because Ayame thought that the name would be good for my personality.  And I'm cuter than you.  Nyah!

[Rezantis]

From: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')
To: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')

Subject: Mweheheheh.

Well, I guess that explains that.  :P

Hm.  

OK.  Well, just answer me a couple more questions before I vanish.  The guy we're meeting is 'Victor' out of the workshop, know anything?

And . . . how much damage is the loss of the Workshop and Rasputin likely to do the Seventh Cabal . . . and how pissed off at us are they?  :)

Anyway, we'll be leaving in a few minutes.  If you don't hear from me in 72 hours, yadda yadda yadda.  

--N

[Brian]

From: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')
To: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')

Subject: Yam!

Victor's one of the Workshop's Big Nasties.  He's some reeeeally old guy from somewhere in Europe with an aversion to sunlight.  Also, Taylor couldn't control him even before she got a piece of her mind taken.

The loss of Rasputin will probably piss them off, but not as much as, you know, making the Workshop all Blow'd up.  I think that'll probably irk them more.  Keep in mind, most of the people who worked for the Workshop never even heard of the Seventh Cabal.  Just like most Forge and Home Guard terrorists never realized that they were both working for the Workshop.  (I'm still trying to figure out the 'why' of this one.)

While I'm sure the projects meant a lot to them, Rasputin was essentially given to them because he wasn't so useful to the big Seventh Cabal dudes anymore.  Just like Ayame was left out where you could swipe her.  A small thing, but if you take the little bricks out of the bottom of the wall....

Well, if you're looking at how angry they are at you, I'm going to guess, "Quite a bit," but not enough to roll out any of their big guns.

And you'll be okay meeting Ezzy.  I've seen ahead, and it's, well, that which I can see is pretty groovy.  Peace out, Rez-baby!

[Rezantis]

From: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')
To: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')

Subject: We need more Pez^H^H^HWisdom!

Well, here we are meeting Ezmereth.  And Victor.  

Basic overview:
We're now part of the Contest, taking over where the Order of Symmetry left off.  Which makes you our Spirit Guide, apparently.  Also, Ginrai can turn into a wolf.

I have many, many questions, but I wasn't directed to ask them yet. ;)

So, since Step 1 in this contest appears to be getting guidance from Your Oracleness, and Step 2 in this contest involves finding the keys (of which Ezmereth is conveniently both right here AND one), Bjorn figured we should get Step 1 out of the way right off the bat.

So, got any helpful guidance stuff to dispense? :)

--N

[Brian]

From: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')
To: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')

Subject: YOU IDIOT!

How!?  How could you join the Contest after all the work Ayame put into keeping you safe, and ignorant of it!?

We didn't WANT you to have to suffer!  Nathan, we already lost -- don't tie yourself to the sinking stone that we are!  Take it back -- just say you recant it all, and you want to live a normal life -- you don't know what you're getting yourself into!

Please, this is serious stuff, and you can have a good, long life before anything gets worse.  You don't have to do this to yourself. ;_;

[Rezantis]

From: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')
To: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')

Subject: Idiot?  Me?

I appreciate the sentiment, really I do, but you might recall that I agreed to do something when I got that gauntlet, remember?  I don't appreciate that kind of thing - you remember when Ayame just -vanished-?  Barely a word, just 'I'm in trouble, bye'?  THAT stung.

What are you expecting, me to just sit out and watch, knowing what I do?  Get real.  

Knowing what I do, I can't really choose otherwise, or I'll never forgive myself.  APART from the fact that I keep my promises, and the fact that I don't particularly like leaving friends to their fates when I think I can help.  

AND the fact that I'm nosy enough to want to know exactly what's going on here.  So face it, you're stuck with me.  And the rest of us, apparently.

'sides, who knows, we might win.  ;)

So, again, got any nifty guidance to dispense?

--N

[Brian]

From: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')
To: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')

Subject: ;_;

...I already know I can't stop you.

You need to go to the rock of Gibraltar.

That's where Ouroboros sleeps.

Ezmereth can send you into its dreams.

But if you get hurt, I'll never forgive you!

[Rezantis]

From: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')
To: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')

Subject: Thanks.

I'll fill you in on the rest of the details (and ask more questions ;) later.

And the same goes for you, neener-neener.  

--N

[Brian]

From: Relm ('tyrean_@samiam.org')
To: Rez ('terrestrial_star@hotmail.com')

Subject: Before I forget....

I didn't get a vision or anything about where you're supposed to go next.  I got it out of the old Workshop database.  Which means they know where you're going to be headed, too.

And yeah, my own checking says that it does have to be the first place you go.  For what it's worth, I don't think the Pax Arcana guys have cleared it yet, so they may be trying to make holes in the Seventh Cabal security.  I'll investigate more....