At the edge of town, the Order of Symmetry convenes with former workshop inmate Bart, along with one or two other faces who look familiar, but never gave names before. Behind them, is Mikey.
Someone found him a trenchcoat that fits, and he seems to like it a lot.
Bart nods, and points to where the dust is approaching -- to where a goodly number of people are approaching. There's a man with gray-tinted skin, a two guys of varying height (one short, one average) that look wire-thin with messy black hair. There's a blond man who seems to be trying to look at everyone at the same time. There's a man with darker blond hair with a combat knife strapped to his belt (looks sizeable). Then there's a huge blond giant (looks pretty out of shape, though) standing next to a third wiry short guy with black hair (this one with a sheathed Chinese straight-sword). Behind them are what looks like a fourteen year old boy carrying a younger girl on his back. In front of them, there are three figures in particular, one of which is carrying a staff.
The staff-bearer - a tall and rather wiry man - removes his hat for a moment, revealing a shock of light brown hair sculpted into the formation best described as 'hat-hair'. Replacing the now-rather-battered fedora, he nods to the rest of the group. "Let's keep this fairly low-key for now. Hopefully we can avoid getting ANOTHER group that wants to kill us."
Pulling ahead of the others, he approaches the group on the road ahead. "Pardon me for being direct, but can you tell me where we are?"
Bjorn slows down a little, falling behind Philip. This does little to conceal him -- while on the tall side of average, he's best described as thick from neck to calves, though it's clear that it's far from all being fat.
Scanning the large group arranged before him makes the white in his hair, thick along the sides of his otherwise brown hair, to stand out, and his blue eyes narrow. Why don't you start off, Philip? he suggests. I'll cover you, worse come to worst.
Strange crew. Though, pot and kettle. Sure.
Dracos' green eyes quickly analyzed the incoming crew as he stepped forward, taking the clear spot of being in the lead with a relatively open smile. "This is the town of New Delphi. In the same manner, who are you? It's not often we have travelers."
The newcomers see a relatively midsized, though on the shorter end of average, fellow with midshoulder length brown hair, fairly wild and matched with a short beard running the entire length of his jaw. Dressed in a t-shirt and pants, he's not apparently armed.
Dracos
Bjorn rolls his eyes slightly at that, but then, he doesn't really know how he would have phrased it any better himself, so he keeps quiet.
Casually, he tucks his left hand into his pocket, letting his right hand -- apparently holding nothing -- hang freely at his side.
Tim sighs, giving a small smile to his companions. "Glad to hear it. This is the place we've been looking for. Pandora sent us here to meet a balanced group of people."
God, this sounds cheesy, but it does make sense. If they're not who we're looking for, best not to completely tip our hand, either.
He frowns towards the brown haired man slightly, his eyes narrowing in concentration. "You look familiar somehow..." he murmurs.
"Well, some say I'm a memorable personality, but I don't believe we've met. My name is Philip Bloom." He paused a moment, considering and then looked a bit expectantly at the other man, still waiting for the answer to his question.
Dracos
"Philip... Bloom..." Tim's mind takes a minute to process the name, and then he grins. "Kind Fearless Leader, otherwise known as Dracos."
Dracos raised an eyebrow. "Well you certainly know me and via the net, specific to my own site. Either you've done your research or are an old friend. Though if you're the latter, keeping me in the dark as to who you are isn't the best of greetings." He smiled, no actual bite to his words.
"What, the hat didn't tip you off? I used it as an avatar for long enough." Tim extends a hand. "Tim Maus, otherwise known as Halbarad."
"It seems coincidence is laughing greatly then. And your friends, Hal? Or tell me, coincidence is going along with it further and they are other people from Soulriders?"
Dracos
Nathan raises an eyebrow, glances at the rest of the party, and rolls his eyes at Carthrat.
Sterling and Walker trade a knowing nod with Bart.
Bjorn looks back at Bart, then. "Bart?" he says, out loud. He notes, as a distant observation, that it feels surprisingly uncomfortable. "Do you know these guys?"
"Uh," Bart says. "Yeah. Before the Workshop caught up with me, I met with a few of these guys. We smashed up a Forge base."
"Sweet, sweet destruction," Jim says in a friendly manner.
"Okay," Bjorn says. "We're all friends, right? Then let's put our various weapons away and go have breakfast."
"Breakfast sounds great," Tim agrees. "I don't even know when we last ate."
"I'm not feeling particularly hungry or particularly talkative," Rez shrugs, smiling a bit to take any sting out of it, "I might go get a bit of practice, chat to She Who Brought Cookies, and think on stuff. I'll chat to you all later."
Nathan trudges off.
Nathan now moves to It's a Beautiful Morning With You (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=55302#55302).
Bart has everyone follow him to building number one. Surprisingly, the interior of this building is different from number eight. There's essentially only three rooms downstairs. Bathroom, kitchen, and dining area. The kitchen's a bit bigger here, too. Peeking upstairs reveals barracks-style rooms and bunk-beds.
The old woman, Anita, is in the kitchen, and a few Workshop stragglers (Bjorn recognizes the signers), are at caffeteria-style seats in a corner. There's no drink bar, but someone set out a big container of orange juice (from concentrate). Anita seems a bit surprised to see so many people come in, but only shrugs, and starts preparing a large skillet of scrambled eggs. Some still-warmed hashed browns, sausage, and a collection of unopened instant oatmeal packets sit on a table nearby, along with a thermos of (one hopes) hot water. Flatware and clean plates abound on this table.
Tim relaxes his concentration as the group enters the house, letting his staff vanish. As he enters the building, the smell of food reminds him just how hungry he really is. In short order he's collected a plate of eggs and sausage and a large glass of orange juice, seating himself at a clear space at one of the tables to engage in his best meal of the day.
"This is remarkably unsurprising," deadpans Tom, quickly assembling his own meal. He's not exactly a big guy, but he looks fairly solid, has a few days of beard growth, and a goofy looking ponytail that's really far too short to look good, but long enough to be noticable. One way or the other, it doesn't fit with the rest of his hair, which could put MacGuyver to shame.
"I guess you called me Carthrat before... but hey. Old times. So, Drac, Phillip, ok. I recognized Rez from just then, which leaves a few people I don't know. Are you guys from before as well, or somewhere else?"
Dracos followed along, gathering a plate that was sized for someone about twice his size.
Sitting down and starting he took a second at Carthrat's query to point at Ginrai and Bjorn. "This is Ginrai, Parthipan. You know? Quiet op in void? And Bjorn, he of little face."
Dracos
Bigfire sits nearby, Sterling and Walker talking in low tones with Walker about their prior adventure together. For the most part, Bart is recounting his escape from the Workshop, which seems to involve a lot of Bjorn and Nathan shooting people with fire or cutting them in half with bare hands.
"I gets you. Parth, Bjorn, good to meet you. Hardly knew you guys at all before, but I suppose I'll get to now."
Tom starts to tuck in, though he's more picking at his food than diving in to eat.
"I believe now is an appropriate time to ask 'What's the story?', eh?"
"Ah, the story is long and involves many explosions, spiders, and how many times a wizard can be flung from a catapault flinging lighting at maurading orcs. The answer, as would be found out, is not fourty two. Where would you like me to begin? With us hacking computers across the country? Acquiring of superpowers? Having every building we sit down in for more than thirty eight seconds blown up? On that note, we really ought move."
Dracos
Daniel's danger sense does not seem to detect any current or impending building explosions.
"I'll settle for 'What's with this place?' for now," replies Tom, wryly. "You know you're crazy when you listen to everything you just said, and are willing to take it for face value.
But at some point, I really need to sit down with someone who can tell me just what's going on, and I bet most of this room does, too."
OOC: Though I have no objections to it being declared, 'Bjorn and Drac tell an abridged version of the story. You now know stuff. >_>
"This is New Delphi, our home base and new home of she who brings cookies. It's also notably my first time here too. Bjorn took some refuges from California over here after that big disaster over there that was likely all over the news."
Dracos
"First things first. Since I at least know, and marginally trust you, Drac, question. Does 'Order of Symmetry' mean anything to you?"
"Aye, they be a collection of liars, riff-raff, and mongrels who traverse the land with some notion of saving the world, leaving explosions in their wake as they battle against two world spanning religious organizations with similar notions learning about love, justice, and IBC rootbeer. Some say that they were recently in italy snubbing explorers and participating in a complex game of backstabby. Some say that they call New Delphi their base and enjoy a good egg breakfast."
Dracos takes a moment to enjoy his meal before it goes cold. "But what do some know? I mean, it's not like they give clear answer's like "you've found them"."
Dracos
Tim rolls his eyes and grins. "Yes, but you left out one vital piece of information: what is THEIR stance on IBC root beer? I could care less about that love and justice stuff."
"Well, I hear tell they put claim on every last bottle as theirs. You're either with them and the rootbeer, or against god. Something like that anyhow."
Dracos
"Deep," Mark comments.
"Sounds like a group I could get behind, then. Life's not worth it without decent root beer."
"Now, about the rest of that stuff. What in the world have you been up to that involves wizards in catapults? I thought halflings were the catapult ammo."
"You'd think that, but how many halflings do you know that fling lightning bolts from their finger tips. Huh? Not a one. And those buggers BITE. Not like a good ol' wizard. What 'bout your friends by the by? I suspect, knowing the theme, that they are in fact triple agents specializing in nuclear bomb prolifiration who are, in fact, kwish. But they could just be random folks who's names I will recognize despite not having heard of them ever before in my life."
Dracos
"We have here..." Tim turns to look at the rest of Bigfire. "Okay. let's see. We have Sterling the Indestructible; Jim, who has a side job as an ogre doormat; David, who's always prepared for any situation requiring cutlery. Carlos over there is a handy man with radio waves or ATM machines, and Ryan likes skulking in the shadows. Or moving through them. Exhibit F is Walker, whom I'm told is handy with machines, and then the two over there are Wallace and Mark, who we picked up prior to a small invasion in Arizona. Collectively known as Bigfire."
"Wallace and Sterling? Those names be familiar to one such as me. I recall a live journal of someone named wallace who went by...cuddle lion or some such on irc? It'd be absurd to be the same folks, but then absurdity is the order of the past four score years ago."
Dracos
"Here's another absurd moment: We just missed about 6 months," comments Tom. "You know, what with being in the Dream and all that. Time flies when you're having fun. Why, I remember January like it was five minutes ago.
I still think it's your post, though."
Tim reaches over and whaps Tom in the back of the head without even looking. "I think we're all past the point of arguing over whose post it is."
His meal mostly finished, he settles back in his chair. "In all seriousness, though, how'd you guys end up in the middle of this? Last I saw of you was on IRC at the beginning of the year, but as our esteemed rodent just pointed out, we've been out of things - literally - for quite a while. So much so that I'm not even sure what today's date is."
"That was me," Wallace admits. "Where did you read my LJ from, though?"
"I am a bad clicker of links and brian had your stuff linked off of his 'stream of consciousness'."
Dracos
Bjorn has been keeping quiet so far, watching with a detached amusement. He's never been as close to the others online, so this feels more than a bit strange to him.
But at Tim's question, he stirs. "The date is July 2nd," he says. "And we got into this by falling backwards into a job that needed doing." He shrugs.
"A bit cryptic, but I can't say a lot more for our end, either. Things just happened, one after the other, and we ended up here. A week ago, at least as I'd look at things, I was cursing the cold weather and reading over casework; next thing I know, I'm in a small town in Alabama in July and able to make things just by thinking about them. In between I've shot two ogres, made an APC with my mind, and helped a woman trapped in a glass sphere. At this point, I don't think I'd blink if the sky turned green."
Bjorn grunts in amusement at that. "All right, then. You were looking for the Order of Symmetry. What now?"
Dracos nodded sympathetically to hal, relating in a teasing tone. "Didn't have to headbutt them did you? Learned the hard way that you just don't win in a duel of hard heads with an ogre."
Dracos
Tim shrugs towards Bjorn. "Your guess is as good as mine. Pandora and Alan - don't know if either of those names mean anything to you - suggested we come here and meet with you, possibly join forces. I'm not going to try to speak for Bigfire myself, but at this point I'm just tired of running. Pandora couldn't tell me much - although I plan to ask more, next time I Dream - but from the little I know the Order of Symmetry is a movement that's opposed to the people who've been trying to kill us, and that it was recently revived. And that's about all I have in the way of details for who you are and what you're doing. Anything further you'd care to fill in would be a help, at this point."
Ginrai quietly watches the conversation while digging into his plate of scrambled eggs. Though when he hears Phil's comment, he smiles and says in response, "Chain lightning is the way to go when fighting Ogres."
Bjorn sighs, and pushs the remains of his breakfast around on his plate. "Ah," he says, "the hard question."
He leans back in his chair and frowns up at the ceiling, ignoring the side conversations for the moment. "All right. The people who are chasing you -- without knowing any of the details beyond that -- are one of two groups, Pax Arcana and the Seventh Cabal. Maybe both. And to understand this properly, you have to understand that we don't oppose them. Not directly.
"Without going into detail, it turns out that when there's too many people on Earth, reality becomes unstable. This instability is what is called the Enemy." The capital letter is clearly heard. "To fix that problem, you need to change something fundamental about reality. What decides who gets to change reality is something called the Contest.
"There are three groups that participate in the Contest -- Pax, the Cabal, and the Order. Except that a couple thousand years ago, Pax and the Cabal managed to off the Order." He shrugs. "Each has a different approach to fixing things. Pax will kill off three quarters of humanity, and the Cabal steals other realities and patches them onto our own."
He pauses, looking around to make sure everyone is following him so far.
"Sounds completely off the wall so far, but considering everything else that's happened, I'll take it at face value," Tim nods. "No idea on why yet, but let's get what out of the way first."
"Well, why matters," Bjorn says, "so let's cover that. Basically, it's the density of minds that attracts the Enemy. Kill off a big chunk of people, and the density goes down. Similarly, increase the space that the minds occupy, and the density goes down.
"Now, the obvious question should be: what keeps the Enemy back most of the time? And the answer is: the Dream. The Enemy is only a threat when the number of minds gets to be more than the Dream can protect. This is where Cabal's solution falls apart. Whey they steal reality to add to our own, they don't do anything to increase the Dream. So the Dream gets stretched thinner and thinner, until eventually, nothing anybody can do will make it enough to hold the Enemy off.
"So the approach the Order takes is this. If the Dream is what holds the Enemy back, then the logical thing to do is increase the strength of the Dream. And it turns out you do that by strengthening the connection between the real world and the Dream."
He shrugs. "So you see, from one perspective, the Order, Pax, and the Cabal are all on the same side. We're all trying to prevent the Enemy from destroying the world. What makes us difference is our approach to the problem -- but those are pretty much incredibly different. And of course, we all want to be the winners, so we'll end up going against each other. But in the end, the Order isn't about 'opposing' Pax or the Cabal."
"I dunno, I'm a fair bit about opposing both of 'em, myself." Dracos shrugged.
Dracos
"I have no problem with that. And whatever's happening to me seems to be tied pretty tightly to the Dream, so I suppose acting in its best interests is acting in my own best interests as well. Selfish it may be, but practical is what works. And if it's got the added bonus of shielding us from these other groups, all to the good. Whatever they stand for, they're not too choosy about their methods, so I'll oppose them on those grounds if nothing else.
"But, as you said, the real question is 'what now?' We were sent here to meet up with and possibly help you, but the question that follows that is HOW do we help you? And I'd guess you know the answer to that question better than any of us would."
"I hate to interrupt," Mark interrupts, "but, uh, you mentioned Brian. He was, well, my brother, if we're talking about the same guy." He leans over his barely-touched oatmeal, closer to Phil. "You knew him, right?"
When Philip speaks, Bjorn clearly is on the verge of saying something, but bites back his words. But when Tim then speaks, he rubs his eyes tiredly for a second before leaning forward, ignoring Mark's question for the moment.
Speaking intently, he says, "Look, let me be honest. Selfish doesn't cut it, and neither does practical. We got into this for the wrong reasons, frankly -- and one of us has already died because of it."
He's still looking at Tim, but the words echo across his Dream to Philip, trying to convince him as well. "The only good reason to get involved in the Order itself is to believe in what we're doing -- to believe that humanity will actually be the better off for being more in tune with the Dream. Not just because you can't afford to lose focus, though that's a big part of it; there's too much at stake here to let ourselves be side-tracked by anything, including stopping some truly frightening hidden conspiracy-type groups. But also because in the end, this is a contest of will. What determines the winner is, more than anything, the dedication to the goal. Both Cabal and Pax are focussed on just that: winning the Contest and shaping the world to their specfications. If we can't match that dedication, if instead we're only thinking about stopping them, then we'll fail. If you're a Dreamer, you know this -- it isn't just some feel-good touchy-feely bullshit, it's an axiom of existence. Will Defines Reality."
He slumps back in his seat, clearly a bit exhausted. "Look, I'm not trying to talk you out of helping us. We need every hand we can get. But deciding if you believe in our cause, completely and utterly -- well, I just told you what our cause is. Take some time, think about it. If you don't think you can get completely behind it, then there's still plenty of stuff we can work together on." He shrugs again. "And if you can believe in it, then we can talk some more."
"Yeah. Strengthening the connection to the Dream... I dunno. That has some strange implications," comments Tom. "For instance, my understanding of Tim, here, is that he uses the connection to the dream to change reality by.. what, creating stuff?
If the connection to the Dream is stronger, then he presumably would get a sudden rise of power. I think. And if there are others like him in the world.. well, they'd become *quite* potent.
I think."
He leans back in his chair, looking a little tired himself.
"But let me get this straight. Judging by what you say, one group thinks that the way to save the world is to kill a bunch of people.
The other group has a plan that essentially isn't going to work.
I don't know the full story of strengthening this connection... but from what I can tell, it sure beats out the other two options. Maybe I don't believe in the cause in and of itself and only because it seems to be the only viable one.
But, hey, save reality without leaving behind a pile of corpses. For now, I can get behind that."
Bjorn nods at Tom. "That's about right. But it's not just Dreamers, but everyone who has any metahuman abilities." He says those words with a slight inflection of distaste. "All of 'magic' comes from the Dream. So what you'd find is that anybody with those powers would get stronger, and people who'd never had powers would start to develop them."
A lecture, Bjorn? Look, I know the truth of the matter as much as you do. Sure, when push comes to shove, petty 'they're fuckheads' stuff has to go to the side. But to pretend we're not opposing them is silly. One died because he was crazy. One because he was petty. I'm not being petty. I do oppose them. They're, to be simple, my enemies. That isn't to say I'm going to ignore the bigger goal because of it, because that couldn't be farther from the truth, or be unaware of the fact that should we lose, they need to win. But that doesn't mean I stop opposing their existence. In a turn of phrase, just because one doesn't give up bigger goals in exchange for smaller ones, doesn't mean one has to completely ignore the desire to fulfill those smaller goals. Eh... Look, don't worry about it. When push comes to shove, I'm not going to drop going after the real goal for a shot at their heads. Even if they tick me off. I want their failure because for them to succeed means we've failed. In that way, I certainly will retain opposing them. I can see the notion of keeping in mind 'what if we lose, what's the best we can arrange to happen?' but I'd much rather spend that energy saying "Both of them must lose and we must win and that's the only scenario we can allow."
Turning to mark, simultaniously, he nodded. "Yeah, did indeed. Chatted with him regularly enough. So did Bjorn here and Rez, the one who headed off."
The mists of the Dream thicken for a second, beforing thinning and calming down again. All true, to some extent. But like you said, Paul died because he was petty, because he took his eye off the goal. These guys are thinking about joining the Order, and so what they have to know is what the big goal is, and that the big goal is what matters first, and in the end, the only thing that matters.
If what they want to do is fight Pax and the Cabal, then they can help us without being part of the Order. They can join New Delphi, coordinate what they do with us, and it'll be great. But if what they want to do is fight, then there's a chance that in the course of what the Order has to do, they'll make the wrong choise because of that. That's a risk we can't afford.
Tim remains silent for a few minutes, considering Bjorn's words. "I do understand it, yes," he replies quietly. "And I can understand exactly where you're coming from. I'm not going to say that I don't believe, and I'm not going to say I do - right now, I'm still assimilating all the information I've been hit with in the last week. Frankly, what you've said applies to any contest of any nature - the party with the greatest will to succeed generally does."
He leans back in the chair again, closing his eyes as he thinks. "I think what I need right now is some time. I do want to talk with you more about this, since I think it's clear that you do believe in the cause, and it sounds like you understand what it is AND its implications a hell of a lot better than I do. Tom's right - it's rather clear that out of the three plans, one's unworkable and the other's unthinkable. I think the bottom line for now is that I'm willing to help out, whatever the reason. The reason may change as my understanding of things changes, but the practical side of the matter is that I'm here and I'll do what I can. And that's all I'm afraid I can give you for now, until I can understand things better myself."
Bjorn nods at that. "That's appreciated. Every bit helps, eh?" He grins at Tom and Tim. "But for right now, we're still figuring out what our next move is, so feel free to relax, think things over, and ask us any questions you might have."
"That solves it, then," Kyle murmurs to himself, staring into a cup of orange juice. Phae is curled up on the bench next to him. "He must have been the sacrifice to set the spell in motion."
"I'm sorry," Bjorn says confusedly, looking over at Kyle. "What was that?"
Fair enough. I understand. I'll keep quiet on that front.
"Woah, woah...sacrifice?" Dracos turned his attention fully to Kyle. "Please elaborate?"
Dracos
"Well," Kyle begins. "The way Alan explains it to me, this, right here, right now, was all set into motion by someone else. A spell was cast that draws common people together to for a cause, and gives them tools to help along that path. Such a potent work would be easy in the Dream, where reality is maleable. It would require little sacrifice.
"Here, in reality, power is much rarer and difficult to come by. We are fettered, essentially. Overcoming those fetters requires a substantial sacrifice. In this case, a soul must be destroyed to release the power for the spell, and then, the spell would be dependant on that person for the connection to draw others together.
"This person is your common thread. He was sacrificed to bring you here," he concludes.
There isn't much to say to that, so Bjorn just looks down at his breakfast plate, his face blank as he goes through the implications.
"So, who sacrificed him, then?" Sterling asks.
Kyle shrugs at that. "It's impossible to say, for me. An oracle might know," he answers. "But Alan asked, and Pandora did not."
"Hum... The wanderer perhaps? He seems to pull plenty of strings."
Dracos
"That's just speculation," David says. "I think we're losing sight of the big picture. The why of our situation not being as important as the what of it all? At least for the moment, anyway."
Sterling grimaces, but nods agreement.
In his Dream, Bjorn sends the mists to touch the anchors of both Bart and Lazarus. Good morning, he says, as a substitute for whatever proper inititiating direct mental contact etiquette is appropriate. Do we have space enough for these gentlemen in the village?
"I think the what is relatively clear, at least for the short term. We're here, there's apparently no imminent danger of the Forge or the NSA coming down on top of us, and we've got time to catch our collective breaths and figure out what each of us is at least capable of doing. For the longer term... well, I suppose we can figure that out with the time we've got at hand."
Tim rises from his seat. "That said, I think I could stand to take a walk. I've got plenty to think about, at least for now. Sleep would be better, but I doubt my thoughts will slow down enough for a while for that."
Yeah, Bart replies immediately. The guys I know, which is about half of them are good people. They helped me fight off some Forge terrorists. Or maybe Workshop guys. It was a mess, but they saved my life.
Well, that's reassuring, Lazarus sends, somewhat dourly.
Bart doesn't visibly react, but the sensation of his cringe is clearly felt.
However, we can house them easily. They will need to share room, at least until we can raise another building. Relm mentioned that constructing an extra would be wise.
Which house for the meantime? Or are we going to have to split them up? Bjorn's face stays blank, but the mists darken slightly. Might be best to do that, just to be sure. This is a lot of newcomers at one time.
The only way we can really split them up is if they share your house, Bart warns. The open one is building number nine. The plan is to eventually build enough that everyone has full-sized rooms to themselves, but ... well, maybe with some more manpower, things will go a bit faster.
Rising from the table, Bjorn addresses Tim. "We're a little bit short on space. Maybe putting up another house is one of the things you guys can help us with. In the meantime, though, I can show you where you'll be staying, if you want."
"Fine with me," Tim nods. "Doubt I'll turn in just yet, but knowing where to go when I'm ready is a plus. Lead the way."
"Anybody else," Bjorn says over his shoulder as he heads for the door. "If not, it was nice meeting all of you. Talk to you guys later."
To all of the Order, as well as Bart and Lazarus, he adds, I'll be listening. Call me if you need me. Lazarus, I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to sit down and go over things yet. Soon, I promise.
"Time is indeed what we could use," says Tom, following Tim's lead. "There's heaps to think over, but until we're done with the thinking, I don't mind helping out here and there."
Tom and those with him now go to In a Town (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=54808#54808).
This includes all of Bigfire except for Sterling, Mark, and David, who remain behind.
Dracos leans back, finishing up his meal. "So what's the story with you guys anyhow?"
Dracos
Bart left to follow Bjorn. David and Mark don't say much of anything, but Sterling asks, "Who are you asking?"
"You guys." Dracos shrugged. "You're running around the country and such. I've heard Hal's story, you've heard a touch of mine. What's yours?"
Dracos
"Eh, well," Sterling muses, rubbing his chin. "Basically, it all started like this. So, we're all in town, hanging around, and we get letters from Brian. Envelope-type letters. They say he wants to meet us on Mount Hamilton, which has an observatory. Said it was because he wanted to see a meteor shower or something."
"Normally, I wouldn't have bothered, but it was his birthday, after all," David adds.
"So we get onto the mountain about ten minutes before the nuke goes off," Mark continues. "Very bright."
"And of course, Brian wasn't around," Sterling picks up. "Anyway. We stumble around for a while, start finding out we've got awesome and weird new powers, and then all of the sudden some guys in a blackhawk helicopter start shooting at us. Jim screams like a little girl and the chopper just shuts down. Drops a good seventy feet onto some rocks, and we all run like hell."
"Wally and I left after Sean killed Nick," Mark grumbles.
"Let's not talk about Sean," David says, shaking his head.
"Yeah. Well. Anyway. So we lost two of our boys, and two more decided that they were just going to part ways and hide," Sterling goes on. "So. We spent a few years trying to learn about the guys chasing us, and eventually got pretty good at making them mad. At least, I think we have." He shrugs. "Really, I can't relate every fight we've been in, but they've been pretty constant for the last few years. At least every three days, I think."
"We had that two weeks in Maui," David counters, shaking his head.
"Right, well, aside from that," Sterling says, rolling his eyes at David. "We'd recently split up so that some of us could get a bomb that was in Australia and stop it, and the rest could rescue Daniel from his impending demise. After that, we teleported to Austin, found Tom, and went to Australia so we could regroup.
"That's where we ran into Tim. And then Kyle was picked up with Tom, and Phae -- the little girl -- we stole in Mexico from some tourists." He grins at this, and then quickly adds, "Nah, we rescued her from an ogre. I think she was supposed to be in a coma, or something. After that, we end up getting together with Wallace and Mark again, and then we run across the dream-world for about six months before we end up here."
"neat...but how'd you know about the stuff? One of you a seer?" Dracos nodded, doing one of his favorite pasttimes, listening to stories.
Dracos
"Other stuff? Well, we met an oracle in the dream-place, but, uh, I don't know anything else," Sterling replies. Pointing to Kyle, he explains, "Apparently he does, though."
"Ah yes...hum, Tim mentioned it. Pandora? Who is she really?" He turned to Kyle, seeing what they knew.
Dracos
"Pandora is the Brotherhood's oracle," Kyle offers. "Alan and Pandora told me what I knew. Which is mostly that a spell is responsible for drawing everyone together."
Dracos nodded. "Anyhow, nice meeting you blokes and welcome to new delphi. I'll see you around but I'm going to go hunt down Rez now."
Dracos, waiting a moment to see if they stopped him, heading to go find Rez.
Dracos
Ginrai was about to go and meet with Rez as well until a sudden thought came upon him. "The letters that Brian gave - were those given directly to you guys by him? With the mention of him having possibly been a sacrifice to get us all together I'm getting the idea that those could've been faked."
"Well, come to think of it," David muses, "he didn't give them to us himself, no."
"And he didn't have a printer, and his handwriting was bad," Mark adds helpfully.
Sterling raises an eyebrow. "The letters were hand-written. Come to think of it, I don't think I'd ever seen him use a pen outside of signing his name." He frowns at this.
Dracos rises and heads off in search of Nathan.
Thinking over what he had just heard, Ginrai then asks, "This might sound strange, but do any of you still have a copy of the letter?"
"No," Sterling says flatly. "We ditched everything we owned and destroyed it after a while. Jim kept detecting bugs in everything. We weren't sure how we were being tracked, so it all had to go."
After finding building number eight empty, it occurs to Phil that Nathan's laptop was left behind. Victor probably still has it, and if Rez was going to use a computer, he must be at the mines.
Phil reaches building number nine again just in time to run into Tom and Tim.
"Oh. Yo, Phil," says Tom, opening the door for him. "What's shakin'?"
"The world, in dice." Dracos quipped. "But not much really. Heading to go check on Rez."
Dracos
"'What's shakin'?' I don't know you, I swear," Tim replies.
"Anyway, that's fine. Was hoping to talk to you a bit about all this, but it can wait if you're busy."
"Yes, busy is the definition of me, walking around, hands in my pockets, not really paying much attention where I'm going. What's on your mind?"
Dracos
"Eh, was just a little curious how you ended up in the middle of all this. From what Bjorn was saying earlier, sounds like you guys have been having a hell of a time."
"Well, that is a tale. Let's see, shall I start at the beginning or when they decided to blow up my house?"
Dracos
Tim blinks. "Your house blew up? When?"
"Sometime in january. Some fake swat people, cabal I think, decided to smash down my doors while I was having a party and try and beat the heck out of everyone. They...picked the wrong house to try such at but then blew it up after I left. I think I'm probably legally declared dead, except for my financial accounts."
Dracos
"Glad to hear you guys made it out okay, at least - although that does sound almost eerily similar to what happened to me. Only difference really is that it was fake FBI guys coming after me at work."
Tim shakes his head. "And things have been exceedingly weird since - well, you heard me earlier. I'm just trying to sort out what to do from here."
"Well, there's really not too many real options out there when you come to think about it. Sure, plenty look nice... but none that are really that stable once you consider the whole playing field. At least, that was my thought back when I pondered it before knowing all of this Order this, religious crap that. They sure like their fake authority figures though." Dracos commented, walking along.
"Sure seems that way," Tim nods. "Bjorn seems pretty intense about the Order, but it seems like there's something there backing it up. Maybe I just don't understand what it is yet, but I'm willing to look into the Order if you guys are looking for the help."
"Bjorn's a trooper. He does that kind of stuff. Truthfully, I'd like to tell you to run. But if you're in it, here's as safe a place as any and I wouldn't be one to yell at the notion of extra help."
Dracos
"Well, if Bigfire's story is any indication, if I run I have to keep running - and that idea doesn't appeal at all. I'd rather pick someplace and take a stand - and if that place is here, that's fine by me."
"Well, taking a stand will involve moving around a lot too, if the last several months are anything to say, but hey, good to hear. You've gotten set up with a place to stay?"
Dracos
"Roughly, yeah. Getting settled in at building 9 for the moment, although we're going to have to cram people in there as things stand. Right now I think I want to get caught up with what's been going on in the world at large, since I've apparently been missing for six months."
"Eh...I should, but I won't bother myself on that. Odds are too high that the next one will be much the same. Who cares that much on current events when you're certain to miss several more months along the way? When it settles down, there'll be plenty of time for it. Anyhow, I suppose you have mystic powers beyond imagining?"
Dracos
"I'm a Dreamer, or so I've been told, at least." Tim demonstrates the point by holding out his hand and making his staff appear in it, since it seems to be all he can form for the moment. "And it's not all dreaming, either, but I'm still learning what I can and can't do."
"Neat. I'm supposedly the legendary incarnation of the green man or something like that. Dunno. I can read minds and such, as well as a few other things. Makes me a bitch to play poker with." Dracos jested.
Dracos
"Remind me not to gamble with you, then," Tim replies with a smirk. "Anyway, it was good to talk with you. I won't keep you any longer if you wanted to go looking for Rez, just getting an idea of where everything is right now."
"Well hey, come along anyhow. I'm figuring it's a good time to practice and figure out what we can do with the ward. Best to give you a chance to come and get an idea and heck, show us a bit. Assuming I can coax the lazy bugger out."
Dracos
"I suppose that works," Tim says with a shrug. "Certainly don't have anything else to do, and I'm not particularly sleepy just yet."
"Hum, you know, I'm entirely too lazy to play hunt the rez. one sec."
Dracos concentrated on Bjorn. Hey, any chance you know where rez is? Seems like he went to the mines and I don't want to haul hal and rat down there right yet.
Dracos
Splitting his Dream is relatively trivial, Bjorn finds. While still talking with Lazarus, the mists also wrap around Philip's anchor. One second, let me check if he wants to talk. With that, he then pokes at Nathan's anchor; after a second's thought, he also checks Victor's anchor.
Nathan replies that he's busy -- judging by the thousands of lines of code that were carried in that fraction-of-a-second-window, he's not kidding.
Victor is significantly less busy, but it being daylight, he can't really leave the mines.
Having shared that communication with Philip, he asks then, Is that what you wanted to know?
No, but then yes. Anyhow, thanks.
"Damn, he's being silly. Oh well, so, you can make things exist, eh?" Dracos commented.
Dracos
"So it would seem," Hal replies, letting the staff dissipate. "So far it seems to be kind of limited, unless I'm in the Dream."
Tim pauses for a minute. "I made two 'real' things in the Dream though. Something tells me the other might be a little tricky, but it can't hurt to try it."
With that, he steps outside the building and attempts to form the APC in the middle of the road. Worst thing that could happen is that it just doesn't work, right?
Tom mutters something about 'shortchange' and 'wits and wits alone', looks annoyed, and says, "Hey, when you create stuff, how hard do you need to concentrate to keep them in existence?
'cos I'm wondering if you can make stuff for other people and if they can hold on to it indefinately, and such."
When Tim concentrates, where's a hollow-sounding "whuff" of air, and the ground immediately before him sinks, as though under the weight of the APC's treads. But no APC appears, and when Tim stops concentrating, the ground returns to normal.
Tim shakes his head a bit. "Figures. Although I wonder WHY it didn't work..." he muses.
"Anyway, that's about the extent of what I can do for now. It seems to be mostly things I've made before in the Dream, as far as what I can make in the real world. Next time I Dream I'm going to try some experiments, see what I can make and hopefully figure out how it works a bit more."
"Hum, if you could do that in a dream it would be pretty nice, especially if we end up in MiddleEarth the Thirty Second Reference again. What about you rat? Or just surviving by luck?"
Dracos
"I hurt things and break people with the power of my FISTS!" says Tom, smacking Drac upside the head.
"Well, uh, yeah. Luck. That's the ticket."
Dracos sways out of the way. "Rat with kung fu annoyance kick attacK? Maybe you'll be lucky and come out of this without being scarred beyond reckoning."
Dracos
"Nah. Tom with HASSAN-CHOP!"
Tom recalibrates his attack to strike Drac, changing his overhead smack to the head into... an overhead smack to the head a few inches further away.
"Got to be faster than that." Dracos teased, slipping back with a few quick steps out of range. "Anyhow, how'd you get tied in again? I know Hal had gunsmen after him."
Dracos
"It is a long story," intones Tom. "One of pain and woe... well, no.
I dunno exactly how, anymore. I was doing deliveries for some lawyer at the time. And lo and behold, I find a bomb in the storeroom. Then the Bigfire guys show up and defuse the bomb, get rid of it, and give me their number 'in case I get into trouble'.
Whaddya know, very next day, I get accused of stealing my own credit card, and after a, erm, scuffle, I valiantly escape from the perils of the South Mall. So I calls Bigfire, and they picks me up.
And that, as they say, is that."
Sterling has at this point snuck up behind Tom, and hops, bringing his palms down on Tom's shoulders. "FBI!" he yells. "Boo!"
Tom grabs one of Sterlings arms, turns around, and twists it behind his back.
"Oh yeah! There were some FBI guys, which Bigfire handled with their usual tact and subtlety," comments Tom. "Sterling managed to look worse than he usually does at the time, y'know. I think he's into pain."
Sterling nods, before yanking his arm free of Tom's hold. "It's not that I enjoy it as much as I don't really feel it anymore," Sterling says indifferently. "I can tell it hurts, but pain is pretty much to promote survival. We learn not to do things that cause pain," he continues, drawing his combat knife from his belt, and holding it point down over the palm of his left hand. He drives the knife into his palm, but not all the way to the barbed edges along the back. A dozen drops of blood fall to the ground, as Sterling cleans his knife on the edge of his shirt, then wipes his hand also. "But when the impact of an injury is dramatically less severe, the point of worrying about it."
Sterling then shrugs. "That's why you could grab me easy, probably even if I were fighting you. I don't really care what my enemies do to me, as long as they don't capture me or hurt my friends."
He nods at Dracos, then. "That thing in Oz that Tom was talking about was really just another fight. It's kind of funny, but after a few months, even the adrenaline can't keep them from blurring together when you remember them. Mostly I came by here," he says, extending one hand, "to say thanks for letting us crash here. The whole idea of having a place that's remotely 'safe' is something I'd really given up on."
"Heh, I can hear that." Dracos shook his hand. "It's nice to be able to sleep and say "Hey, this place won't be swarming with killers in the morning."
Dracos
"I'll say that it's nice to be able to keep my feet on the ground," comments Tom. "The last five days have been pretty damn hectic. Still, that's nothing compared to you, I guess.. but hey, being new to this stuff can suck."
Dracos shrugged. "Yeah, anyhow, I'm going to go get a bit warmed up."
Hey bjorn, there any training area and equipment around here? Want to check out how things have changed with the ward and such.
Dracos
Philip, how long have you been in this village?
Unless my sense of time is messed up, and it well can be, only a few hours plus sleep time. Why?
How long have I been in the village?
A few days longer and last I checked, you were able to ask the folks that know faster than I can find them and get an answer. Which is why I asked you.
When Nathan and I were here last time, they didn't have anything. But I'll ask.
The mists reach out and form a bridge between the anchors of Lazarus and Philip. Lazarus, Philip wants to experiment a bit with his abilities. Is there a particular place he should head for?
There's a gravel pit near the mine-tailings to the north, Lazarus replies after a moment. We usually leave it empty for practice and such.
There you go, Bjorn says, letting the connection between Philip and Lazarus drop.
"Any of you folks care to join me? Or, if luck is with me, have a sword on you I can borrow?"
Dracos
"Oh, sure, why not?" says Tom, stretching. "Nothing better to do. Though what I could really stand to do is some target practice. Ah well. Nothing like getting all hot and sweaty and stuff, right, guys?"
"I think I'll pass for now," Tim replies. "Definitely need to brush up on my martial arts later, but too much on my mind for right now."
"Aww. Come on, man," says Tom, shrugging. "We've been thinking deep, heavy thoughts since we got here. It might be worth loosening up a bit and all that. And hey, no time like the present to start learning how to break things."
"I'm just going to chill," Sterling says. "Maybe nap." With that he turns around and starts walking back to building nine.
"That's cool." Dracos lead the way for those coming to practice.
Dracos
"Nap, practice, it's all good," shrugs Tom. "What were you going to do, anyway? Just work through a bunch of sword techniques or something?"
"A bit. I did just awake from being in a dreamworld for a good long while."
Dracos
"Huh. What, so you were actually asleep, here?" asks Tom, curious. "I mean, when we went into the Dream, we physically *went to the dream*, and all that."
"To tell the truth, I don't know." Dracos shrugged. "It was a different world."
Dracos
"Huh. Lots of room for theorizing, but little solid evidence there," comments Tom, shrugging.
"You know... if you'd asked me seven months to theorize on this, I would've gone on for hours. Now, I couldn't give a shit. We're alive at the beginning and we're alive at the end, that's what matters at the moment."
Dracos
Tom snorts. "If you say so."
So much for the whole 'belief' schtick, eh?
"Y'get jaded that fast, eh?"
"Eh...maybe. Maybe I'm pulling your leg? Maybe I'm leading you into a deathtrap right now." He smiles, leading to the place.
Dracos
"Death, shmeth. I can take it!" boasts Tom, supremely arrogant.
"Yes, which is why this is not a death trap. It is a trap where you shall play starcraft against an unbeatable computer sixty thousand times in a row!"
Dracos
"Cool, I could use a challenge," smirks Tom. "It's been so long since I had... a true adversary."
Tim scrounges the remains of breakfast after Tom and Philip leave for practice, then heads off to building nine in imitation of sterling.
Sleep does sound good right now.
As Phil and Tom are sharing quips, a mental warning echoes across Phil's mind:
More people are approaching. The only image accompanying this warning is three separate figures at different points on the road. One is in the lead, and moving considerably faster. The other two are a few steps apart.
They'll be at the entrance to town in about five minutes, someone unfamiliar informs, their vision (the same Lazarus relayed) unsteady enough to suggest that they are in a car that's being driven off-road. Apparently they're pulling ahead of the runners, to reach town in the car first.
"More friends of yours expected, Rat?"
Dracos turns, heading for a detour suddenly.
Dracos
"Tom. My name is Tom.
And no, not that I know of. The Bigfire crew don't know anyone else, to my knowledge.. wait, where are you going?"
"More company is coming, Tom... gah, you actually expect me to call you that instead of Ratty?" Dracos teases as he continues towards where he was told they'd arrive.
Dracos
"I dunno, I was gonna call you 'Phil', and Rez 'Nathan', and all," replies Tom. "Well, whatever."
Touching the minds of Philip, Nathan, and Parthipan, Bjorn tensely relates, Strangers coming up the road. Might be together, one might be being chased by the others. Hard to tell. Heading for the road now, meet me there.
OOC: I guess I have to start posting telepathy stuff in the appropriate thread, eh?
Bjorn's message knocks Ginrai out of his reverie. 'Guess I'll talk with Relm later.'
I'll be right there. Getting up, he heads out to meet with Bjorn.
Nathan emerges from the mine-entrance, and quickly jogs over to Parthipan. "People are coming," he warns, headed towards where Bjorn is standing.
This path will take Nathan and Parthipan past the point where Phil and Tom are talking. Tim is just hiking into sight at the same moment. Daniel and most of Bigfire are gone from sight ... likely wandered off to building nine for some rest.
Dracos, spotting Rez, heads over. "Finally out of your cave? Find anything interesting?" Dracos continues to lead the small group onward~!
Dracos
"We have more incomings, and the terminal room lacks snack-food."
"Cool incomings like the last time or, bring fiery death ones? And that's a horrible tragedy."
Dracos
"Apparently they're more of our new minions."
Rez glances around, lowering his voice a little.
"Thoughts on the newbs?"
I dunno, fed 'em some stories and junk, you know. Enough to let 'em get into trouble if they're going to. Anyhow, too soon to tell really. It's antsy seeing yet MORE old friends show up
"That's sweet...huh, I didn't know we KNEW so many people." Dracos kept leading out there.
Dracos
Yeah, just a little. I don't entirely like this . . . find out anything interesting?
Eh... hard to define interesting from trivial stuff. You heard most of it, what with them being on the lam from Pax. Don't know too much yet. Think Hal's the only one who's got real powers of note though.
Dracos
Mmm.
Rez grimaces.
Geez, it's enough to make me wish we were back in the earth dream, at least there I was pretty damn sure I know what the deal was. At least at the end.
Eh...don't worry so much. In the end, they are old friends, I'll spy on 'em eventually to double check and be certain. Either way, I can go with a little 'they're not directly trying to kill us from both ahead and behind.'
Dracos
After passing building nine, the group catches up with Bjorn.
This thread now moves to In a Town (http://www.pishoque.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=55361#55361).