"I'm sorry," Sylvie says, "Run what you said by me again," she says as everyone splits up. "I can tell you that the valkyrie there wasn't lying from what I heard of her, but I missed most of this."
"Well, to make a long story short, she thinks entropy is corrupting Aurora." Moore says. "I don't doubt it's actually happening either and it seems like today was a victory for 27's boss." He says with a bit of a shrug. "I wanted to talk to you about it... and a few other things that I've had on my mind."
"Yeah," Sylvie says, starting to walk inside. "27's not evil for what it's worth and I've never felt evil from him."
"No, I don't think so either." Moore says. "Something struck me when they were talking -- that the original Medicant fell because of in-fighting. It...mm." He takes a breath. "I know 27 has a hangup about Tannin for some reason... I'm guessing you vetted him a long time ago, probably whenever that first came up?"
"Yeah," Sylvie leads you along, through the entry hall. She pauses a moment at the Medicant Golems, then shakes her head. "Always remember Lief when I go past these," she says to you, "Fuck entropy, but I haven't ever found anything besides 27 being loyal in his own way."
"I wonder if 27 would be willing to extrapolate more on that now." Moore says. "I... hm. Well, I was in Celestia and Lord Erathaol didn't give me any missive to stop 27 or any warnings about Ygorl. I think if we had some impending doom He would have warned me about it. I wonder if it's simply a play against the lawful nature of Hell... that really makes the most sense in the grander scheme of things."
"I don't know. 27 simply doesn't answer questions about himself. I've tried a few divinations, but they come back a garbled mess." Sylvie leads you to a portal, through and to the cafeteria. She grabs a table and sits, producing a roast chicken and sides.
"Hm. I might be able to finally speak a language he can understand, so we'll see if I can make any headway with him." Moore says with a nod. "But anyway, so, I have an odd question... well maybe not odd, exactly, but a curiosity. Let's say you handed me 21, would anything happen? Is it... mm... what's the right word... attuned to you?"
"I can," Sylvie says, "It's not a light burden. You have to face every truth about yourself that you hide with self delusions, lies or simply that you ignore. You have to account for every sin you've ever committed and face them head on.
Sylvie pauses to eat, doing so quickly. After several bites and a gulp of water, "Jaela held it before and her first words were that she was a shitty fucking celestial. It hurts. None of are meant to confront ourselves like that, all at once and without anything to protect us. It will change you."
Moore rubs his chin. "I..." He taps his chin afterwards.
"I'd like to try it sometime. I... think I can understand it now. Or, even if I can't, I think it'd give me wisdom and insight that I can't get anywhere else. It's strange to think about... but... mmm. I don't know how to put it into words. How did you manage to withstand it?"
"You'll regret it," Sylvie warns you, then goes back to her food.
"Do you regret even using it?" He asks.
"Yeah." Sylvie goes back to her food. She's quiet for a time, "The path that lead me to 21 isn't one I'd take again. I have power, more power than I could have dreamed of, but it's not worth it. Oghma willing, it will be one day."
Sylvie pushes around her vegetables with her fork, half way through her meal and slowing down. "21 makes it hard to even make a lie by omission, or simply stop talking when you haven't said everything. I can usually do it these days, but even then it's an overwhelming pressure at times. 21 wasn't ever meant for mortal hands or immortal ones, but here I am, still bearing it. To the bitter end now."
Moore folds his arms. "Then why don't you return it?"
There's a beat and then he snaps his fingers. "No, I'm sorry -- I didn't even think about it, you probably can't help but answer when someone asks you a question like that, can you? That's really insensitive to ask given those circumstances. That's... a burden, I can imagine."
You get a rather deep scowl from Sylvie, she slowly exhales afterwards and puts her fork down. She sits back and says, "Some things I see with 21 are best kept to myself."
He shakes his head. "I can't say I completely understand, but I understand the sentiment. Please forget I even asked, I will be more careful about the questions I pose to you going forward." He promises.
He leans over to grab a piece of fruit. "Actually, I've been meaning to ask you about something that I forgot about until I got back from Celestia... the people that were affected by the Styxian water a few weeks ago... does 21 have power to neutralize it?"
"I've never tried," Sylvie says after a moment's thought. She goes back to her meal, finishing it off before banishing that, then getting a small plate of a few different cheeses. "The Styx is evil, but I don't believe the lingering memory loss is inherently evil."
Moore nods. "After we had the operation there, I did a divination and it seemed to suggest that 21 might have the power to protect us from that part of things. I could see it, at least in terms of... mm... well, I know it erodes things like memory, and seems to impact magic by making it 'forget' what the magic is supposed to do. Well, now that I think about it, it didn't say 21 specifically, but..."
He thinks for a moment.
He closes his eyes and takes a breath, like he's trying to remember something long-forgotten. truth
He opens his eyes and nods as if he found an answer. "The divination specifically said 'seek the truth that cannot be taken away.' To me, that sounds like 21, what do you think?"
"The price of remembering may not be worth it," Sylvie warns, "21's all the power Aurora could dream of, but it comes with a price."
Moore nods. "I understand. Even so, we need to find some way to protect ourselves or fight back against the Stygian threat. I'm sure when the time comes to fight Hell more seriously, they'll use that accursed water against us, so I'm willing to delve into fighting it."
Sylvie nibbles on a little wedge of cheese as you talk, putting it down before nodding. "That was a really strong tactic to use. We do need to stop it, don't we?"
"It didn't occur to me before, but I wonder if they're even protected against it at all." He says, leaning back. "In the battle itself, I think they had some sort of person... or persons controlling it, moving it around our forces. I think, given that, they have to be careful about wielding it carelessly. At least, that's my opinion, anyway. Either way, I think if we had some way we could surprise them like that in the future it would give us an edge."
"Yeah, if we ever can get through all the defenses there," Sylvie says, "I don't like our odds with all the devils have invested into there. If the Lord of the Ninth is taking a hand into it, we may find ourselves in too deep even if we break through."
Moore nods. "I agree. Attacking that place again will need to be something we do in tandem with more forces. At any rate, I think making inroads against the water itself may still be helpful... I wonder if they employ it in any other situations. I don't recall anything in Benfal wielding anything like it... mm... that may actually lead to more reason to believe that the water itself is harmful to anyone."
"Well yes, it is Styx water," Sylvie remarks, "You know, the river that runs through Hell itself as well as all the lower planes? It's not exactly spring water."
"No, I know that. What I mean is that I think it's harmful to devils, too. Maybe that's obvious, though."
"So wait, do you want us to use Styx-water?" she asks, "Run me through this again, I must have been lost in my own thoughts."
"No, no no." He shakes his head. "I'm just saying that I think they use it the way they do because it is both harmful to them as well as to us. It was just an observation of how it's being used. I think we should find a way to neutralize it, or if that's not possible, protect ourselves more from it, so that whenever it comes up again, we take away a major prong of their offensive capabilities."
Sylvie nods at that, "Right," she says. "So go on."
"I suppose in order to proceed with the idea we'd need to get a sample of it to test it and see what happens under safe conditions." Moore says. "That... shouldn't be terribly difficult, just dangerous."
"Unless you're unlucky, it's easy enough," Sylvie says, "We can portal to a random part of the Styx and get a water sample." She flashes you a smile, "If nothing goes wrong, that's less than 5 minutes of work."
"I find myself wherever I need to be, whether that's luck or not is up to your perspective." Moore says with a nod. "All right. Hmm... I can't really think of anything specific to use to put the water in, I don't think it really makes much of a difference, do you? I'm sure it'll erode, no matter what it is."
"Get a simple container for now, just make sure it's something that can be sealed and is sturdy," Sylvie says thoughtfully, humming, "Don't risk being exposed."
Moore nods. "Let's meet up at the gates in 10 minutes?" He asks.
He will go find the most sturdy thing he can -- probably some sort of reinforced potion glass with a sealer -- one with a handle, of course, so it's easier to use to dip into the inevitable river!
He'll also stop by the arch for the normal protections and so on.
Anything magical or just generically reinforced?
If we have something magically reinforced that would be great!
Can be done. Preferences? Wanna sink any money into it?
Sure, let's say 200 gold for something really nice. I'll post the expense.
Bump it to 250 for the category you're in, but otherwise okay. That a problem?
Somehow, no.
Yeah, I figured. Sorry to eat up a post with that, but sometimes the DM has to do that.
It's a sturdy steel container, one that has a long bar of iron attached, about 10 feet long. It has an open end for dipping and a lightly enchanted cap to seal it airtight.
"That should do," Sylvie says as you stand in Aurora's courtyard. "Whatever you do, don't fall in or get splashed."
"Trust me, I don't do this with a willingness to lose any memories." Moore says with certainty. "I'll trust your judgement on where we should go, but I can get us there if you need me to."
"Aim for the Styx on any top layer of a Lower Plane. Besides Hell, too risky." Sylvie glances over at you.
Moore nods and Greater Plane Shifts them both!
OOC I don't know what a Lower Plane is but Moore will just pick one at random and aim as instructed.
> roll 1d7
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 3 > [d7=3]
Gehenna it is. See IRC for the details.
Gehenna's heat assails you right away. You stand atop a canyon's outer lip, a step away from plunging thousands of feet down. Below you, amid the glow of open veins of lava and sizzling heat, is a massive river. It's choked with rapids and plunging cliffs that turn it into waterfalls. There's no real banks to the river, the walls of the canyon rise straight up from the river, not even a slope to precariously balance on.
Sylvie points down, "That's it." She starts to fly down, "On guard, we may have been noticed entering."
Moore casts Haste on both of them to get them down there more quickly as he follows after! May as well make sure this gets done fast.
> roll 1d100+10
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 46 > [d100=36]
The two of you fly down, plunging towards the river. At about 1000ft above, you hear a voice scream, "Oh...oh help me. Let me out! AH! STOP!"
Moore takes a breath and continues on.
"If we spend time trying to help every single person here, we're not going to get anywhere. I feel for them, but the longer we're here the worse we'll be." He says with some sadness.
"Don't even look. Souls condemned here are tormented for a reason," Sylvie's voice is calm, collected and cool. "For one to escape being a larvae and get personal attention indicates a soul stained black as tar by sin's inglories."
Moore nods.
"As much as we disagree in terms of good and evil, I respect the fact that they have an orderly way of doing things." He says as he continues on.
You descend down, Sylvie not commenting on this. You're perhaps 100ft above the river now - hundreds of feet wide, raging and churning through rapids. "Go on," Sylvie says, "I'll keep watch. If all else fails, get off plane and I'll get myself home."
Moore will fly down to set the box on the bank of the river and wait for enough to flow into it so he can seal it up!
To explain in case it isn't clear, he's going to put the box on the very edge and not just like dunk it in the middle, he'd like to have some resistance from the waters flowing, if that makes sense.
To quote: There's no real banks to the river, the walls of the canyon rise straight up from the river, not even a slope to precariously balance on.
You'll need to revise that plan. You mean rest it against the canyon wall then?
I really should read and not gloss over these sorts of things. In that case yes.
This isn't hard, exactly, but it's not easy or safe, either. Make a Dex check.
[blockquote]Rolled 1d20+10 : 13 + 10, total 23[/blockquote]
You hover ten feet up, dodging droplet sprays and scooping down. Fortunately it goes about as well as it can. You dodge and hold on tight, able to withdraw the container with it full of Styx-water.
Moore will make sure it's sealed before he heads back to Sylvie and then Greater Plane Shift them back to Aurora's entrance!
Listen check.
Take 10 for 46
You hear a splash as you start to rise - one of many, but something about this one makes you react. You juke to the side, just as a black tentacle rises from the depths, lashing right out at you.
You're not flatfooted for this surprise attack.
> roll 1d20+26
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 42 > [d20=16]
AC?
57
Moore's speed was in time. He dodges the tentacle as it goes right his side, then...
Init.
[14:01] <Nephrite> roll 1d20+34
[14:01] <Serith> Nephrite roll for Serith < 40 > [d20=6]
It can't be that, so open.
"Yeah, no, sorry." Moore says with some apology as he flies over to Sylvie.
Greater Plane Shift to Aurora, cya sucker!
Woooooosh.
You appear before Aurora unharmed, Sylvie flying in the opposite direction of the container. "Get that somewhere safe," she says."The sooner the better."
Moore will cross over into Aurora proper! "Elena? I have a container of Styx water. Can you show me a safe place we can keep this contained?"
Okay, containment's doable enough. What are you going to do with it afterwards?
See if we have any books or notes on the stuff and then get Sylvie involved in studying it and seeing what kind of effect 21 has on it.
Anything in particular from info on it - it's a common planar substance so info on it is known well enough - or just general curiosity?
Any instances of anyone trying to neutralize it or otherwise get it to not be awful Satan water.
K:P times.
Take 10 for 89
Well, there's good news. It normally loses potency away from the Styx. One reason why you don't usually see it as a weapon beyond its native habitat. Also why that defense in the Deep Ethereal was so unusual - someone went to a lot of trouble to fudge basic planar dynamics.
It can be purified completely, enough holy power will leave you about 1/3rd of the amount of Styx water in normal, drinkable water. It would still need to be purified for mundane contaminants, though many purification spells would cover that as well anyway.
Interestingly, the River Oceanus, while having useful bits for magic item creation, isn't as overtly magical as Styx-water. As it's the Heavenly counterpart to the Styx, that is unusual. You recall experiments to combine the two have been done. If the water's fresh enough, they generally cancel each other out entirely, as if disintegrated. Otherwise they just mix into a mildly unclean water.
Most means to neutralize it are air pockets, outright immunity to it or other tactics. Directly neutralizing it is possible, you've heard of a niche spell that might be able to do it, but you don't have it handy.
Next step is to see if Sylvie has any insights into just holding onto 21 makes her immune to its properties.
Beyond the memory loss and the fact that it seems to erode magic in general, do they have any further notes on anything else from the Deep Ethereal battle? Were people able to get their memories back or were they just completely gone?
Sylvie floating in the air, lying on her side as she watches you work in the laboratories. "Insights on that?" she says, "21 overcomes any source of evil that isn't from the Incarnations. Also..." A pause, "Are you able to remember the conversation we had with Baleruk about Cantasa Alexandria? I'm resistant to anathemic knowledge because of 21, too. Sort of helps with it."
"I remember what I remember... and remember what I didn't remember, if that makes sense." Moore says. "Hm... I guess the properties of anathemic knowledge and what the water does are kind of similar in a way... Hmm. I guess our best defense against it is..."
He blinks, then tilts his head, like he just thought of something. "I know you can use 21 offensively, Sylvie, but do you know if you can use it defensively?"
Sylvie goes still. "Please don't make me answer that." She keeps her voice level, calm.
He blinks a few times, taken a bit back by that.
There's a long pause while he seems to be carefully considering something.
"Okay." He nods. "You don't have to answer -- but I hope you can tell me sometime. I think I can puzzle out the issues just from what we've talked about before, so I think I understand what your hesitation is." He smiles a little and looks back at the water.
"In that case then, the best thing to probably due to protect ourselves in the future is use magic that either works on water itself like control weather or water, or... maybe that spell to directly neutralize it... I wonder... maybe we could find a way to get that to be a continual spell...Hmm..." He taps his chin and flutters around in thought. "Now I know how Tepen feels... probably.."
Sylvie relaxes, "Yeah, if you can manage a wide range version of that spell, but find it or develop it from scratch first," Sylvie suggests.
"I think that's our best route for coming up with a defense." Moore concludes. "I'll talk to Tepen and Vul'lath and see if they have any ideas. Oh, hey, you had mentioned... uh, a while back... you can see auras and things, right? I'm just curious -- do you see more light within me lately? I never really stopped to ask you what you saw before."
"I see all of it, Moore. At least now," Sylvie says. She looks on at you, "Hey. Keep a secret?"
"I can't give you the same sort of guarantee that you'd give me in reverse." He admits with a small smile. "Shoot."
> roll 1d20+15
<Serith> Kotono roll for Serith < 22 > [d20=7]
"Keep being exactly how you are," Sylvie smiles.
Moore tilts his head again. Was that it...?
"I will." Moore says with a smile. "After all, I'm the only me, so I should make sure I'm the best." there's no Moore who isn't Moore here, after all...
A pause.
"Hey, Sylvie, you helped me out with this, is there anything I can help you out with? Projects, anything like that? " He asks. "I feel like my skills could be put to better use than they have been lately."
"Of course there isn't," Sylvie says, "You're you and unique. Don't be silly about a Moore that isn't Moore."
Sylvie then turns to go, "Remember that, you're unique."
He blinks again, like there's a brief moment of him not quite being there.
"Sure. If you need any help with anything, let me know, okay?" He says with a smile. "Thanks, Sylvie."
Next on the todo?
Side upside since you aren't on IRC on Sundays. Got up at 5 AM on short sleep, have been up since then. Don't expect a serious posting run, I'm wiped. Hence why it took this long to post.
He's really not got anything to do so he'll just bum around unless someone needs his help or A Quest Appears.
"Moore."
Elena pops in next to you, wearing a riding outfit. She smiles just a bit too much, "So is this Jetina competition for Ilsenine?" she asks with a giggle after, as you fly through the hallway to your room. "Also, she's awake and asking for you."
"No, and if anyone even says anything like that, please let me know." Moore says very firmly. "Besides, that'd be really awkward to begin with, just from a physiological standpoint..."
He huffs once and will go find her room to knock on the door!
"Come in."
As you enter, you find Jetina sitting on her bed. She's down to her armor's underpadding - which is still a full body suit, more than decent. Her armor and gear lie on the floor, neatly sorted out. No weapon but there's a suit of full plate armor, a few sacks, a ring and a handful of minor accessories.
"Hey, how're you feeling?" He asks as he flies over nearby.
"Like half of me is gone," Jetina says, eyes on her armor's breastplate. "I remember the feel of my hand polishing my armor, but not actually doing it. Isn't that strange?"
"It'll come back." Moore assures her. "It'll all come back in time. Do you want to talk about it? I don't have all the answers, but I can give you my opinions."
"Yeah." A single statement, Jetina closing her eyes. "What happened? Something happened. Something wonderful and terrible and..." she drifts off. "We lost something, too. Something important."
"From what I can gather, we ended up there... somehow. Maybe we died and it was like a purgatory... or maybe we just happened across it... I don't know." He says with a shake of his head. "For the longest time, I thought I had just fabricated the whole place... the whole thing. I never expected to meet anyone from there in the 'real' world, if you understand."
He flies over to sit on her bed.
"But the more I was exposed to knowledge... to experience, to wisdom, to... everything, to life. The more I began to realize that it wasn't just a dream. I went somewhere a few months ago that opened my eyes to... something. It was there, amidst the memories of thousands of others, I realized... everyone got out, everyone is... somewhere. I haven't gone to search for any of them because I know they're all safe." He clears his throat after this.
"Anyway, we got out of there somehow. I think... we agreed to something -- like, we got to the end and someone offered us...something. A chance? I don't know. I think it basically boiled down to us making the choice to stay there in safety or come back. We.. apparently chose the latter." He says with a smile. "I don't think it was even a choice, I think... we were called here, by something... call it destiny or fate or whatever, I think we knew we had something to accomplish here -- so here we are." He says with a gesture at himself. "Of course, I think we lost our memories of what that was and why it was so important. However, I think those will come back to us in time -- I know I've had... flashes, little bursts of recollection now and again."
He smiles and then looks away.
"I know that doesn't really answer everything... but I hope it helps to put some of your mind at ease." Moore says. "It was pretty sudden... to just wake up on that cold mountain. ...But I think someone besides Erathaol was looking out for both us."
"It's something." Jetina says, "I lost so much. I can't even remember the name of whom I served, a glimmering fragment or not. I devoted my life to them and nothing! Gone!" Jetina falls back onto her bed, closing her eyes. "The only solace is that Lord Raziel has made himself known to me and given me a purpose. There is a meaning to all of this, something I can go towards now. A light to go towards, to go towards Chronias."
"If that's what you can use to give yourself a path to follow, then keep following it." Moore agrees. "I don't know what the connection is between Celestia and the Light, but... well, it's best to not dwell on it too much. Are you hungry?"
"No," Jetina says, "I haven't been the slightest bit hungry since this all started. It must the stress." She sits up and goes to kneel by her gear, checking them. "I believe the armor and ring are enchanted but I don't recall how. Also, I don't recall how I got this at all." She hefts a small sack.
"Oh, you may not have to eat anymore. That'll be something to get used to." Moore says with a cough into his hand. He looks over the items.
Take 10 on Spellcraft for 49.
"Have you opened it? I have a feeling I can guess what's in there, if it's anything like what happened to me." Moore says.
"Why's that?" Jetina pauses as she hefts the sack, frowning.
It's full plate+2 and a ring of defense+2.
"I think while you were uh... sleeping, I guess, I think you may have..." Moore puts a hand to his chin. "...Uh... evolved? I'm not sure what the right word is. To make a long story short, you went in as a human and came out as ... not. Hm, maybe this is a good chance to give you a refresher on planar nonsense... I had to spend some time getting up to speed on that since I think I forgot most of it while I was snoozing. Or dead. Or whatever I was doing."
"Evolved? Alright. Moore, explain." She jangles the bag, "Like why I have a bag full of gorgeous gemstones I've never seen before in my life."
Moore clears his throat.
"I hope you got the 'don't need to sleep' part of things too, because this may be long." He says.
He's going to explain the basic cosmology of things as best he understands them (Hell, Celestia, the other planes, yadda yadda, what a Prime Material is, so on and so forth) and about outsiders and everything that goes on there. Basically give her a primer on Balmuria.
"...and the reason you have a bag of gems is because it's basically like a 'here, go get yourself something nice' bag you'd get from your parents." Moore concludes.
Quick K:P check here. I'd rather you don't take 10 in this particular instance for DM reasons.
[13:21] <Nephrite> roll 1d20+49 K:P
[13:21] <Rei-chan> Nephrite rolled : 1d20+49 K:P --> [ 1d20=20 ]{69}
Jetina listens to all of it as time passes. It takes some time to go through it all. By the end she's sitting back on her bed again, "So....I'm a ghost in a physical body? I get to leave my afterlife and do what I want? Is that about the measure of it?"
"More or less." Moore concurs with a nod. "I mean... well, you'll end up splitting hairs, but yes. Suffice to say you walk amongst the living, so don't worry too much about it. But now you know where you were before, well... not WAY before before, but when you woke up, and where you are now!" He nods.
"...Yeah, I know, it'll still take a while to get used to it. I can show you around when you're ready so you can get familiar with Aurora." Moore explains.
"Yes. Yes, let's do that," Jetina stands and begins to put her armor back on. "I have so may spells floating in my mind, spells of terrifying power. Spells to treat pain and suffering as mere suggestions, batted aside like a fly."
"Yeah, I sometimes forget all the ones I have up my sleeve. I do never get to use the one to make the mansion..." He sighs and shakes his head. "Oh, have you met Elena yet? She's... uh... Hey, Elena?" Moore calls out. "What do you even consider yourself? The Spirit of Aurora?"
"Close enough," Elena pops in, "Hi. Jetina, right," She's wearing a simple dress today, nothing fancy. "Just call me if you need help. I'm everywhere."
"Aurora is... uh..." Moore rubs his chin. "It's complicated to explain, exactly, but think of it like a magic castle. It's pretty much got everything you could imagine. Anyway, you just have to call for her and she'll appear. Maybe even two of them, sometime." He says with a grin.
"Anyway, let me give you the grand tour."
He will show her all the various places (barring the weird creepy things like the dungeons and so on) to get her acclimated.
Okay, looking to highlight any parts or introduce her to anyone in particular?
Highlights: Worldmeet Glade, Cafeteria, the shops (He impresses upon them that she's a friend), the Court and then finally the actual courtyard.
He'd like to introduce her to Balyss once all that's said and done as she's the most healer-y person he knows.
> roll 1d100
<Rei-chan> Kotono rolled : 1d100 --> [ 1d100=53 ]{53}
Most of it goes well enough. Yet when you go find Balyss at Selune's Temple, you find Stille instead. "Ah, dear Balyss is off having a conversation with Sylvie," he apologizes, coming forward and taking Jetina's armor-clad hand and kissing it. She blushes as he goes on, "Miss Jetina, I'm Stille and I serve Selune."
"He's also spoken for," Elena appears, arms crossed, "Don't be a playboy when Ithea isn't around or you'll get in trouble."
Stille chuckles, "Nothing of the sort. I'm merely being polite, Elena."
"Jetina, Stille. Stille, Jetina." Moore says. "Stille's an... ...all-rounder? Is that the best way to describe it?" He asks, just politely ignoring how strange all of this is.
"Oh. Charmed," Jetina manages to smile, "Is Ithea your girlfriend?"
"Exactly so," Stille says, "I was merely being cultured and polite. You understand Aurora is mostly made of warriors, who lack certain social graces."
This gets Jetina's smile to grow, "I do, because....damn, I don't remember why."
"It'll come to you." Moore confirms. "Do you know what Balyss and Sylvie are doing? Don't the two of them usually not gel?"
"Ah, you'll have to wait. They asked for privacy." Stille smiles politely, "Also no, they argue, but they're friends from before Aurora. They come from the same town on the same Prime."
Moore nods. "All right. Well, Stille, why don't you fill in for Balyss and tell Jetina about Selune and her connection to Aurora?"
"Well..."
As Stille and Jetina get to it, you sit back and wait a bit. As you do, Elena pops in. "Oh Moore," she murmurs.
Moore turns his attention to Elena.
In a low voice, "So Jetina's memory loss is considerable, just like yours?"
He nods. "Same thing happened to both of us, her... uh... 'return' was a little different, though."
"Oh?" Elena smiles just a bit, turning to you and leaning in to whisper. "Well? Tell me! I'll find out sooner or later anyway, someone will talk about it in more detail. She mentioned Raziel and you mentioned she's a new outsider, so something happened?"
"That's the thing..." Moore says as he bites his thumb. "She was brought into one of the tombs that Raziel's chosen use. You know, the ones who get reincarnated in Celestia after they've lived their lives? But... obviously, she never worshiped Raziel before... so... there's more to the story." Moore says while he lets Jetina and Stille chat.
"I... I can already tell the whole thing is shrouded in something... probably anathemic knowledge because why not, right?" He says with a roll of his eyes. "The whole thing is... odd. I have my own theories, but I guess, in the end, it doesn't make too much of a difference for right now... I seem to be uncovering things more and more... I..." He folds his arms and huffs. "...Something happened when I was researching Cantasa Alexadria. I know it did... because I forgot something. I don't... mm. When you lose your memories, you tend to be very protective of the ones you have, you know?"
"You'll hopefully figure it out," Elena says, "Pretty sure you aren't the first one who has fought - ah hell. Trouble. Stay right there unless you can cast Gate, then go to the gates. Don't unless you can, we need open gates, not quick transports."
"Yeah, I'm not worr--." He nods. "I've got two I can do. Hey, Stille? Keep an eye on Jetina for me. ...Actually, no, Jetina, you come with me. I have a feeling this will be a good opportunity for you."
He'll take Jetina and head to the gates!
You can actually cast Gate twice?
He has his magic item that does it! That counts!
Merging you into Iddy's thread shortly.