Davros says, "OOC Okay, Travis, Phil, get to it :)" Beowulf OOCly blinks. OK, what are we up to? Davros says, "OOC Kanna wants to talk to you." Beowulf OOCly nods. Kanna OOCly says, "Or, more to the point, Bey's calling to give folks the update, and Kanna's one of the first he hits. :)" Beowulf OOCly grins. All right, shall we start with the trump call? Davros says, "OOC Yes. Get to it :)" ======= ======= The_Prof pages, "Re: Anno... 'Akemi pages, "He scrubs your brain and tells you that he's never met Inji and has no idea what sort of crack pipe that ghost had been smoking." to you.' o.O" to you. You page, "RIGhto." to The_Prof. You page, "(don't know if we'd been able to tell you about the ghost though, unless Lian called Bey.)" to The_Prof. The_Prof pages, "Good q; I just asked John if I could assume we'd gone over enough to ask Anno about Inji, and that was Anno's response to Inji q." to you. You page, "Right." to The_Prof. ===================================== ===================================== Beowulf trumps Kanna. Kanna eats lunch with Shinobu M., Sumire, Moonshade, Mia Asua and Misaki, when she gets the tingle of a trump call. "Hold on a sec... got a call incoming." She checks her deck, raises eyebrows as she determines it's beowulf, and accepts the call. Kanna smiles at Beowulf. "Hey, Bey... how's it going?" Beowulf wipes his brow, which is probably still looking somewhat burned and cut. "Heyo, Kanna. It's been... a bit rough down this way." Kanna blinks at Beowulf's condition. "What the... hell, I can see -that-... what happened?" She looks puzzled and concerned. Beowulf says, "Ah... I'm not sure how much you've heard about our little walk in the Garden of the Cyberpope?" He lifts an eyebrow inquiringly. Kanna blinks. She shakes her head. "Um, nooo.... all we've heard up this way is that folks were planning to hit a construct that had some family members captive. I didn't know -you- were involved... nor who ran it or anything." Kanna says, "Which was worrysome as hell, 'cause, well, it appears Jacqui, Wakaba, and Utena have gone missing, too." She frowns. Beowulf says, "Ah. Well, I kind of went along when I trumped Moriya to give him his barrier -- by the way, here's yours." He hands an 8 pt. psychic barrier through the trump connection. Beowulf says, "To sum up, we found Aunt Nanami and Uncle Drake hooked up to the construct, Ramon and Keiko under the construct's mental control, had to fight off a major Outsider incursion, and everyone came thaaaat close to being killed." Kanna blinks, and accepts the item. "Oh... my?" She blushes. "Thank you, Beowulf." She regards it thoughtfully, smiles, and pockets it for the moment. Her futher responses are cut off by Bey's report. "...." Beowulf blinks and his eyes widen. "Mother, Jacqui and Utena?!?" He covers his eyes. "Oh, *shit*." Kanna says, "You Found Uncle Drake? And what the hell was Aunt Nanami doing plugged in? And WHY were they plugged in? And there -were- Outsiders involved?" Kanna nods. "We investigated the Shadow Theatre earlier today, and Aunt Kozue did a temporal scry. Looks like lizardmen from Dinosaur World dug up... wait for it... a -Lion Spikard- there that was powering it, totalling it in the process. And then Jacqui, Utena, and Wakaba with them when they arrived." Kanna says, "Went -with- them, that is." Kanna says, "That was a week ago, about." Kanna says, "And just ysterday the Jewel of Judgement went on Walkabout, likely due to Jacqui calling it for some reason." Kanna says, "That's why we started investigating." Beowulf says, "Hm. That's even worse." He sighs. "Right, let me go over what happened here, and we'll try and see how they fit together." Kanna nods. "Start from the point where you left me and Lian, and then I'll fill you in. The last -we- were going was to investigate Shizu's dissapearance and that entire damn gate thing, and then retreive Shaft's kid, if you recall." Beowulf says, "Here's the events, more or less in order. Moriya was tricked by a fake Nanami controlled by a very powerful person called the Cyberpope, but managed to beat them both. So we were pretty sure Nanami was being held in the home shadow of this Cyberpope, probably under the control of a construct -- and given that the Cyberpope fought with Drake's skills, we were pretty sure that Drake was in the construct as well." Kanna pauses at that. Kanna says, "GranAunt Anthy said... that Moriya had killed The Keeper Of The Keys." Beowulf says, "Right, that was the Cyberpope." Kanna says, "And that construct... transferred people's powers. Oohhhhhhh fucking shit. Please tell me it's totaled." Then another thought occurs. "And please tell me they weren't hooked up to metal crosses. Please, please tell me they weren't...." Beowulf says, "Anyway, backtracking to when we split -- I found Spellvis, he agreed to trade his key for a Real item that would help him cast spells, like a lesser spikard." Kanna nods. Beowulf says, "We'll get to that in a second." Kanna says, "Right." Beowulf says, "So I called Aunt Nanami to give her a progress report, she suggested either tracking down Vulcan's Forge to make it myself, or tracking down Wayland Smith to make it for me." Kanna nods. And pauses. "Was this the real or fake Nanami?" Beowulf says, "I found the forge, and made the psychic barriers for the big 'fighting folks' of our gen -- you, me, and Moriya. Decided not to make the spikard there, because I didn't really want anything with my maker's signature hanging around in Graceland." Beowulf says, "Trumped Moriya to give him his barrier, found out the news about Nanami and Drake, and joined them." Kanna says, "Sounds sensible. And thank you, Beowulf." She smiles again. "Should come in handy." She nods once more. Beowulf says, "Anyway, now that we're caught up... Moriya had gone to House Gainax and great-grandfather Anno to track down his father, who it turned out had been yanked to another universe and would be returning shortly through the Cave of Worlds." Kanna says, "Ah... hah. Well, that explains the entire dissolving thing we saw." She sighs, and shakes her head. "Good Pyricorn. Any news where he'd ended up?" Beowulf says, "I don't think so; we were all rather too busy to go into the travelogue." Kanna says, "Right. Sorry, my apologies. Go ahead." Beowulf says, "So, we were waiting in House Gainax for Shizumaru to get back, so we could get his help attacking the construct. The party ended up being Moriya, Motoko, myself, Shizumaru, Rimururu, Hiko, Lily, and Mitsune." Beowulf says, "Oh, and great-grandfather." Kanna nods to that, using her free hand to take notes on a sheet of paper (as other folks would see at the table.) Beowulf says, "And Davros. The plan was that Motoko, Hiko, Lily, and myself to guard the magical types, would create a diversion in the outer city, while Moriya, Motoko, Davros, Shizumaru, Rimururu, and Anno would attack the construct, using some elder sign artifacts to neutralize the Lion spikards so that Anno could use the Logrus to destroy the construct." Kanna pauses. "Wait, Lion Spikards came into this." She then shakes her head. "Oh, lemme guess, the Fake Nanami absconded with 'em when she grabbed the real one, I bet." Beowulf says, "I'm not sure exactly what happened at the start of the attack on the construct, except that they were apparently discovered too early and that Anno was apparently killed with a Patternblade. All we knew was that we were rampaging through the city with almost no opposition, meaning it wasn't working as a diversion, and so we made a beeline for the construct's citadel." ===== ===== He will DESTROY ALL MONSTERS! Moriya OOCly beats the spoofer with a stick. Davros says, "OOC Sorry, wrong room. ^^;;;" ===== ===== Beowulf says, "Exactly." He sighs again. "More on them in a bit... at least they all got destroyed." Kanna lets out a breath. "Thank the Pyricorn." ===== ===== You page, "(oh, minor thought... if Morgan's not finished with his/her reasearch ont he blades and stuff, Travis might mention, if he remembers, that Kanna was poking around asking about similar things a while back.)" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Thanks for the reminder." to you. You page, "(I don't think Kanna's walked the pattern to summon a Patternghost of Gendo to get the route to Merehallow yet, as I was planning to save it for in-game.)" to Akemi. You page, "She -has- considered it, however." to Akemi. ====== ====== Beowulf says, "When we got there... well. We entered the anteroom, saw Mitsune attacking Ramon, who had just stabbed Shizumaru with Drake's Patternblade; Keiko lying unconscious on the floor; a stone statue that appeared to be Shinobu Major; Cybernuns and Cyberpapal police attacking with logrus tendrils..." Kanna says, "..." Kanna asks, "... how the fuck did these cyber-religieous nuts have -logrus-?" Kanna scribbles a lot on the paper/notepad now, which is sure to be amusing to those having been eating lunch with her. Beowulf says, "I drew Ramon's attack and got cut up; the Cybernuns took on Lily and Hiko, managed to tie them both up; Motoko ran into the next room to try and help Moriya; and Mitsune tried to distract Ramon." He shakes his head. "I think that was the order of events; things were pretty confused. No, wait a minute, Mitsune grabbed Shizumaru's logrusfoil and tossed it to me while Ramon was pressing his attack. A good thing, too, and it probably saved my life." Kanna nods, somewhat poleaxed at the various descriptions of events. Kanna . o O (Summary to the King : It hit the fan. Badly.) Beowulf says, "Presumably the construct had one or more logrus users tied to it as well, and it was able to pass along those powers as it passed along Drake's warfare and Nanami's sorcery." Kanna pinches the bridge of her nose with her free hand. "... wooonderful. skills, powers, what the fuck ELSE did that thing have?" Beowulf says, "With the help of the logrusfoil, I was able to keep Ramon from killing me, and distract him enough to let Mitsune attack him with a Form of Power. With her distracting him, I was able to disarm him and take the Patternblade -- though it appeared to be under independent control, and I had to strike it down two or three times before I was finally able to bring it under control, using both hands." Kanna nods mutely. Beowulf says, "I think it was about this time that Moriya was teleported into the room, stark naked and pretty obviously possessed. Lily was knocked out at this point, Mitsune was keeping Ramon occupied, the logrus tendrils had just broken Hiko's back and were still bending." Kanna stares. ".... is cousin hiko okay? please oh pyricorn tell me she's okay now..." she murmurs. Beowulf says, "Moriya was trying to get back into the other room; I was almost certain that he had been sent here by a teleport-without-possession spell... which meant his weapons were back in the other room, and if I let him get back in there he'd start attacking again." Kanna nods again. Beowulf bows his head and looks ashamed. "That was the part I felt worst about... I couldn't let them keep working on Hiko, but even more I couldn't let Moriya back in there. So... I managed to knock Moriya out with the flat of the Patternblade, then cut the logrus tendrils away from Hiko." Kanna's notepad now has things written like (Hiko -- back broken by Logrus) (Moriya, naked and rampaging). Beowulf says, "She was within an inch of dying... and for a moment I was afraid I'd let her get killed. But her shapeshifting and spikard let her just barely survive, and I used a racked healing spell to keep her from dying." Kanna says, "... you did what you could, Bey. The situation there... good effing Pyricorn...." she lets out a shuddering breath. "... thank the four heraldric beasts." Beowulf says, "She's much better now, though, after some fast-time healing in the Closet. Anyway..." Kanna nods. "Thank you," she quietly murmurs. Beowulf says, "Moriya got back up to go back in, Ramon and Mitsune were fighting hard... things looked like they were about to go straight to Hell. Then there was a golden pop, and Moriya and Ramon went back to normal, the Cyberdrones stopped and looked confused." Beowulf says, "Everything looked like it was all right in there, so I tossed the logrusfoil to Moriya just in case, and went into the next room. And there..." Kanna asks, "Somebody took out the construct, then?" Beowulf just looks stunned for a moment. "I'm getting to that." Kanna arches an eyebrow. What could top a naked moriya on a possessed rampage? ===== ===== Moriya OOCly grumps. Kanna OOCly patpats Moriya. ===== ===== Beowulf says, "When I entered the other room... it was a giant void. The three Lion spikards were floating in a triangle in mid-air, forming a gateway that Yog-Sothoth was coming through. Facing off against him was Motoko, riding a giant glowing winged serpent, and speaking in a voice that combined herself, Nanami, and Davros, wearing Breath of the Dragon and driving Yog-Sothoth back with blasts from the spikard and breath from the Serpent." Kanna goes ... well, the text medium can't adaquitely translate Kanna's expression right now, but if I was to make a stab at it, her expression would be: O_o;! Beowulf says, "Motoko warned me to get everyone ready to go in a *hurry*, and deposited the unconscious Uncle Drake at my feet to take back into the other room." Beowulf says, "I was able to tie the cable of my grappling tool to the Patternblade, and toss it across one of the lines of power connecting the spikards, breaking the gateway. I grabbed Uncle Drake and ran back into the other room while Motoko banished Yog-Sothoth." Kanna nods, very slowly, still with that expression on her face. ===== ===== The_Prof pages, "*Now* do you know why I was so insistent on you getting help before going after Mother, Jacqui, and Utena? o.o" to you. You page, "yes, but we're GETTING HELP." to The_Prof. You page, "Please, have SOME faith in our abilities to recruit. After this, pulling Mikage and Nagisa in shouldn't be that hard..." to The_Prof. The_Prof pages, "I know, I know..." to you. ===== ===== Beowulf says, "I was back in the other room just long enough to warn the others and let them know that Motoko, Nanami and Davros seemed to be OK in some form, when the Shadow started breaking up. We ran together, I grabbed the first card I had and trumped us all out." Kanna finds her voice again. "... oookay...." Beowulf says, "We ended up in House Gainax... which was odd, since I hadn't had a trump for them, but had it in my hand when we arrived. After a few minutes talking, Anno, Motoko, Davros, and Nanami appeared, and we had a nice little reunion." Kanna asks, "... so... everybody got out, and although beat up, are intact now?" Beowulf says, "Then the knights of House Hendrake showed up, with a King's warrant for the arrest of Shizumaru." Kanna says, "And the construct is dea---" Kanna facepalms with her free hand. Beowulf says, "Everyone made it out alive, yes. Though it was..." He just stands there for a moment, looking drained. "A lot closer than I wish it had been." Kanna says, "never burns but it solar flares. good pyricorn." Beowulf says, "Yes, the construct is dead, gone, and GOOD RIDDANCE." Kanna sighs, and reaches a hand through, and squeezes BEwoulf's shoulder, pulling him into a hug if he lets her. Beowulf gratefully relaxes a bit and accepts the hug. Kanna says, "You made it through... damn, fucking a it was close, but you made it, thank the Pyricorn." She squeezes him gently before releasing the hug. "... so the Cyberpope guy was one of the potential Heralds... and that construct of his.. was one of the points of the Black Crown, then? Given it was outsider powered and stuff?" Beowulf says, "We were able to talk them into letting Shizumaru remain in the custody of the Keeper of the Logrus until the trial. I went to talk to the King of Chaos, who offered a deal that would commute the sentence against Shizumaru to a few hundred years of service to House Hendrake if he lost the trial. That's as far as he would go, though I hear he's desperate for a spikard and would go a lot further if we could get him one." Kanna nods. "Just as long as it's not a Lion Spikard." She purses her lips. "Perhaps the Hoard of the Dragon everybody and their wombat is looking for... And a few hundred years of service is better than death at least...." Beowulf says, "Yup, that's what it looks like, he was one of the potential Heralds. I'll bet whoever's holding Mother, Jacqui and Utena is another... oh, and remember our friends from the zeppelin? Didn't they say something about working for Pharoah Mobius? A 'one-sided loop'... and Nanami said that the little obelisk we took away from them is a construct manifestation..." Beowulf says, "Unfortunately, the trial is in a few days, not enough time to get Hoard -- or I'd gladly trade it." Beowulf says, "Still, we've got a good Courts lawyer working for us now, we've found some evidence that might be helpful, and apparently Davros will be able to testify that Shizumaru was apparently under a glamour when he killed the Hendrake knights." Kanna nods. "Right." She then purses her lips thoughtfully, and nods. "Right. I'll inform mom about -this- little development, and perhaps we can start to get -preemptive- on these assholes." Beowulf raises an eyebrow. "Assholes?" Kanna waves her hands. "All the Wannabe Heralds and Outsider Constructs and stuff." Beowulf says, "Oh, the construct people, right. For a moment there, I thought you were talking about the Hendrake folk." Kanna shakes her head. "Nope, got nothing against House Hendrake. They don't bug me, I don't bug them." Beowulf says, "We have got a *lot* of work on our plate with the Outsider constructs." He sighs. Kanna takes a deep breath. "Want me to give Uncle Tylor the King the lowdown on what happened with you folks, save you the call? I know how he is about taking trump calls." Beowulf asks, "Anyway, that's pretty much the situation as it stands. Now, what's this about Mother?" Beowulf says, "Yes, please. That would help quite a bit." Kanna nods. "All right. I'll back up from the beginning where we parted ways... it should help fill in some things in the background, as you have for me." ===== ===== The_Prof pages, "I wish Bey could be there to see the look on the other folks' faces when you give them the summary. o.o" to you. ===== ===== Kanna says, "So, sis spouted her prophesy, you went off to check your stuff, and Lian and I stayed back and made plans to reasearch the stuff sis said, investigate the Shizumaru situation, which we heard from mom, and check out that Gate." Beowulf nods. Kanna says, "Well, actually, first we saw Grandpa F and asked him a bit about things, about the key, and the prophesy, and said that the 'Gate of Referendum' was a place in -canada-." She purses her lips. "And learned that the prophesy was referring to stuff in Beleriand. Then we checked up with mom before dinner, told her about the Black Heart and the Heart of Ice; she told us about the deal with the Keep. The next day, we went off and met with Moriya and Motoko and Davros... helped them a bit, and Davros looked at the key." She rolls her eyes. "Basically, a logrus tendril electroplated with Real Electrum from our end. -Anybody- could have made it. And oh, later on, I asked Gran-Aunt Anthy yesterday to look at it... and she says her dad didn't make it. Quite possibly a mercenary logrus user." Beowulf sighs. "Lovely." Beowulf says, "Remind me to get back to that later." Kanna says, "Then we investigated the Gate area, Lian did a farscry that determined there was SOMETHING up there in the mountains of lipun, triggered a ghost to appear who warned us NOT to poke around as it could attract the attention of Outsiders, we talked a bit about Inji, who, according to the -ghost-, is trying to set YOU up to get the spikard." She nods. "A sacrifice ploy to get you to take it and then try to retrieve the Master Spikard or the Gloom Device or what have you in order to cripple the outsiders." Kanna says, "Now, I don't know if I can trust this guy. Given dad -still- insists that there IS no Gate in Lipun, and I'm starting to beleive him. There's SOMETHING there, though..." Kanna says, "Given that Lian's examinations did apparently let Machin Shin, the Black Wind of Madness, through to attack us." Kanna sighs. "WHATEVER the deal is with Inji, wether he's friend, foe, or other... he's a dangerous element now." Beowulf nods. "Indeed. Although, if Inji has skills in Outsider sorcery, perhaps he summoned the Machin Shin?" Kanna says, "We managed to fight off the Black Wind... Shinobu Minor shapeshifted into her father and trapped the thing in a plushie which sis vaporized." Kanna says, "Or the ghost, yes." Beowulf blinks at that and snerks. "Heh." Beowulf asks, "I wonder... did the ghost get the chance to finish his spiel before the wind struck?" Kanna says, "Or the entire thing was engineered by him just in case we DID come prying... but if so, that's a damn fucking long lengths to go TO set it up." Kanna says, "Mostly, but not completely. He was about to get into something about wondering if my destiny would have a part in ko'ing outsiders when he noticed that Lian's mental examinations would give a loophole for a mental outsider to come through." Beowulf hmmms. Kanna says, "He was talking about other folks having their own plans on trying to defeat the rise in Outsider power lately... Shaft apparently had a plan to kill one, Aunt Juri had some plan, perhaps, though if she did -I- never heard of it..." Beowulf says, "If it were at a good stopping point in his narrative, I'd say the timing was rather convenient... but yes, onwards." Kanna sighs. "The entire thing with Inji is just one big effing mess. Oh, and apparently he may have known Shaft, hence his reaction when he heard perhaps that Taylor had killed him." Kanna says, "And according to the ghost, Taylor may know Outsider Sorcery and has -Annadil's Notes-." Beowulf shakes his head. "My, my, my." Kanna says, "But anyway, that was the business with the effing gate. Hmm?" She raises an eyebrow again. Kanna says, "The timing... yes, perhaps it was triggered. I don't know how to precisely evaluate these things." Kanna says, "My alarm bells keep ringing, but I can't pin down WHY or WHO to spack without more -evidence-... and by then, sometimes, it's too late." Beowulf nods. "Yes. And Taylor having Annadil's notes and knowing Outsider Sorcery... well, that would fit with what Spellvis said about him being a student on Leng." Kanna says, "Oh-ho." Kanna snaps her fingers. Kanna says, "OH, one other warning about Inji, wether he's good or bad." Beowulf looks back inquiringly? Kanna says, "According to the ghost, wether or not we can trust it... Inji can apparently tap the master spikard's power -without- being corrupted, due to his position as the Keeper of the Gate of Referendum thing. Part of it being to tempt the Outsiders into making a mistake by sacrificing you and all. Now, do I BUY that? I don't know any more. But if he's on the up and up, he's playing a FUCKING dangerous game. And if he's not... he needs to be taken down. Hard." Kanna says, "And sis -did- suspect him of having some access to a spikard or construct when we were in the Labyrinth, now that I recall." Beowulf asks, "Either way, sounds like someone should do a little oversight." He hmmms. "You said he seemed to be in some kind of partnership with Shaft and Aunt Juri?" Kanna says, "Given some of the things he did." Kanna says, ""Well, the Ghost implied that there was some 'circle' that was taking actions to combat the Outsider Powers. Beowulf says, "Or else he has some access to the Master Spikard's power because he's surrendered to it... well, anyway." Kanna says, "Of course, the two he named we can't exactly -ask- at the moment..." She eyerolls, and nods. Kanna says, "The entire Inji thing is just a big effing mess. If I had my hands on Justice, I'd pin him down with it and play twenty questions." Beowulf says, "It might be a good idea to see if we can check up on this 'circle' if we have some time... it is rather convenient that the two people specified as being a part of it are unable to be consulted." Kanna says, "Exactly." Kanna says, "Now... onto the ligher part of things." She smiles a bit. Beowulf says, "Oh, speaking of Justice... one thing I picked up down here for a peaceful way to get it back would be to find one of the other Patternblades and trade Alars for it." Kanna says, "one of the others. Mmm." ===== ===== Moriya OOCly says, "Don't you dare touch Withywindle. :>" ===== ===== Beowulf says, "As he has it as a legitimate spoil of war according to the laws of the Courts, given that he took it from someone who had broken hospitality law." Beowulf says, "Now, if he was caught committing a crime with it in some other House, it could be confiscated and we could get it back that way... but that's not too likely." Kanna says, "Well, Greyswandir is damned if I know where, I doubt Drake'll be wanting to give up Werewindle now he has it back, Withywindle, dunno its locatio... oh, wait, we -would- know, the black heart prophesy. But the search..." She shakes her head. "And we NEED Merehallow to get back Aunt Juri." Kanna says, "And I doubt the Crystal Knight would be willing to give up -his- blade, if he indeed has it." She grins a bit. Kanna says, "That's something to mull over, but I don't think we can do immediate stuff on that." Beowulf sighs. "Indeed. After what went down at the construct... well, I feel the need for a weapon a bit more powerful myself, given the way Ramon almost chopped me into hamburger until Mitsune got me the logrusfoil." Kanna nods. "Things are getting hot." She pauses. "Would Alars accept a Logrusfoil or two?" Kanna says, "If we could get our hands on one, that is." Beowulf says, "It's possible, more likely if it were two... a Patternblade has a certain cachet down there that a logrusfoil simply can't match, don'tcha know. Though I suspect the other Houses would be more than happy to see it depart the Courts..." He grins slightly. Beowulf says, "If we could find an artifact of similar power, we might be able to use that." Kanna hehs a bit. "Nothing like a portable nuclear weapon in the hands of somebody to make everybody twitchy." She nods. Kanna says, "Anyway, back to after the gate business. Lian and I split up to do some investigation On various things... and -I- learned... that the Menelcamar mentioned in the thing sis spouted... was Shaft's kid by Nienna of the Valar." Beowulf blinks. "I see." Kanna says, "Meanwhile, Lian learned that the Big N that her dad and mom and Yumi trapped back during the crisis is dying in the trap. This is a good and bad thing, as one, he's dying, but two, he's dying 'cause the Outsiders pulled their support since if they big bad herald could get caught by us meddling mortals... well, time to get a new one." Kanna says, "Hence the recent 'competition'." Beowulf facepalms. "Hoo, boy." Kanna nods. "Yup. I doubt half these folks even suspect they ARE competing to become the Soul of the Outer Gods, and those that are would now be too damn far gone." Beowulf sighs. "Great. Just great." Kanna says, "Learned more about the history of the first Menelcamar too, which helped out a bit... he was the guy who led the Arden Elves out out Beleriand with the Silmaril they had grabbed. A pretty cool customer. Then we went back up to Ember, had dinner with mom and dad, told her about the Black Heart prophesy..." She then looks sheepish, and blushes. "Mom knew. About the thingie." She absently rubs her neck. Kanna says, "Should've figured, though. But Mom's been informed about the stuff going down." Beowulf says, "Ah, right." Kanna says, "Then the next day, we tried using the Fire Pattern to teleport to Beleriand, and it decidedly didn't want to take us there." She looks wry. Beowulf says, "That's a good thing, to be sure." Kanna says, "Since we'd decided to recover shaft's kid." Beowulf blinks. "Eh?" Beowulf says, "I didn't know *anything* could block a Pattern teleport." Kanna says, "We ended up taking a somewhat longer route through shadow... getting to a shadow with Beleriand's gradient, then sailing from there... Oh, some things -can-, if they're powereful enough." Kanna says, "Like, oh, say, Valar Gods who are usuing the other two Silmarils to block off their shadow from casual access ever since discovering Annadil had used it as a staging point." Kanna grins a bit. Beowulf's eyebrows climb to his hairline. "Indeed." Beowulf says, "Well, one can hardly blame them." Kanna says, "In Beleriand, the Valar make the Rules. And they weren't happy with Anandil having been there, yup,. Took us a bit to clue in, since we weren't reaching Valinor, so I called out and they responded." Kanna coughs, and blushes. "Ulmo is SUCH a hunk." Kanna says, "We sailed for Tol Eressea under escort... waited there... and then met shaft's kid. Moonshade, daughter of Ota and Nienna." Kanna says, "She's rather pissed that Shaft never came back for her mom, but other than that, she's a decent sort. Imagine me crossed with Shaft crossed with Aunt Utena. DAMN good fighter, she's easily on your and Moriya's level." Beowulf's eyebrows climb a bit further, if possible. "Is he, though." He smiles. "I hope you enjoyed yourself." Beowulf says, "Well, I don't blame her for being angry... I know a little about what it's like to be left behind, even if Mother did come back to visit frequently. And then when she vanished..." He sighs. Beowulf says, "Please pass along my empathies." Kanna says, "She, Bey., Moonshade is -definitely- a 'she', I can't see how folks would thing otherwise. And yeah... we did. I needed that vacation, got my head on a bit again over Kuonji and stuff..." She shakes her head, and reaches out to squeeze bey's shoulder again. "I will." Beowulf says, "He being Ulmo. Like I said, I hope you had fun." He smiles again. Kanna says, "Oh. Right." She coughs, and blushes again. "Anyway, we talked about the family a bit, and about the Pattern, and she decided to come and visit as she didn't have anything better to do. We had sis trump us back... well, me, sis, Moonshade, and Shinobu Minor. Lian stayed behind with the ship, and apparently met Aule, built a mecha, and is now looking for the last Silmaril to power it." She looks wry. Beowulf says, "I... see." He blinks. "Well, that's Lian for you." Beowulf asks, "I'm assuming the Valar don't mind her borrowing it?" Kanna says, "We came to Amber, met with Gran-Aunt Anthy, learned the Jewel of Judgement had vanished, toured the castle, then at dinner learned that the Jewel of Judgement had come BACK and that Jacqui, Utena, and Wakaba were likely the reason." Beowulf frowns and looks worried. "Yes. Now that we're there, what about Mother?" Kanna says, "Well, they've got the other two... I didn't poke around too much about it." Kanna nods, and takes a breath. "Well, that was the point when we'd also heard about your group.. well, not -you-, but Hiko's group, planning to take out that construct who'd captured 'certain members of our family', didn't get specifics." Beowulf nods. "Well... I have a nasty suspicion that rescuing Mother, Utena and Jacqui will be more of the same." Kanna says, "So we started to make plans to investigate the site of the Shadow Theatre, as Uncle Touga had recently been there and it'd been torn up for some reason, and Shinobu Minor had mentioned that Jacqui had been planning to visit there, and also that entire 'looking for spikards' thing." Kanna sighs, and nods. "I'm starting to get that, too." Kanna says, "We got a decent posse'... we can possibly have more, including Mikage and Nagisa and Falme if we can work it... but this part was more just straight investigation... and trumped to the Shadow Theatre." Beowulf asks, "Yes... didn't the Master's notes say that was one possible spikard location?" Beowulf nods. Kanna says, "The place was totaled, bey... destroyed by plants being used to dig it up... and Aunt Kozue's scrying spell determined that yes, a group of -lizardmen- had dig up a Lion Spikard." Kanna says, "'Dreams are but shadows on the wall of life'. Looks like the place was powered by it." Beowulf says, "I don't know when you're planning your assault... I can't in conscience leave here until Shizumaru's trial is over in a few days, but if you're going to rescue Mother, I want in." Beowulf asks, "Oh, joy, another Lion spikard. And it was powering the Shadow Theatre? Dear Ghu, what does that mean for all those who relied on its advice?" Kanna says, "I suspect finding them, even with hellriding, is going to take a few days, beowulf. IF we can at all possible get you before we go in, you're in. It's the same with Lian." Beowulf nods. Kanna asks, "I have no idea. Admittedly, nobody was -wearing- it, it was just being used for power. But no spikard, no visions." She hrms. "Did that sheet you got with the list of the spikards give its powers?" Beowulf backtracks for a moment. "Plants digging it up? Could Aunt Kozue tell if they were a different group from the Lizardmen?" Kanna says, "The series of events involving Jacqui were this:" Kanna says, "Jacqui came, saw visions, got interrupted by Lizardmen and Cyberpapist guys, and flet. The two groups fought, the Cyberguys lost, the Lizardmen stayed, reinforced, and then dug up the theatre. Those cyberguys sound like they were associated with the Cyberpope, I bet." Beowulf says, "I wouldn't be at all surprised." Kanna says, "Most of the Lizardmen left, and a few stayed. Then Jacqui, Wakaba, and Utena appeared, and left with the remainder." ===== ===== The_Prof pages, "Though OOC if John's pulling in all the Torg baddies, there's also the Cyberninjas." to you. You page, "Well, these were specfiically refered to as Cyberpapists. Red crosses and everything." to The_Prof. The_Prof pages, "Ah. Good. Though I woudln't be surprieed if we ran into the ninjas at some point." to you. ===== ===== Kanna says, "They looked like ones I encountered in Dinosaur World when travelling with Inji... I think. I got some sketches of the scry, yes." Beowulf asks, "They *left* with the remainder? Voluntarily?" ===== ===== You page, "Did it look voluntary to me, given I saw the visuals earier this day?" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Pretty clearly voluntary unless there was mind control so strong it took them over INSTANTLY, which ain't likely." to you. ===== ===== Kanna says, "Looked pretty voluntary to me... unless it was Uber Super Instantaneous Mind Control." Kanna says, "Which is doubtful." Kanna says, "And -that- was a week ago." Beowulf says, "Joy. Why would they have done *that*?" He goggles a bit. Kanna sighs. "Probably Jacqui, in her Marvelous People Skills, figured they had a spikard and asked to see it." She rolls her eyes. "The girl is fixated, I swear." Beowulf says, "I was hoping Fred would help with that. Oh, well." Beowulf digs out the spikard document. "Anyway, there's not much detail here." Beowulf says, "Three for air, three fire, three water... Fire: Flames/Lightning/Passion, Air: Dreams, Winds, Seeing. Water: Changes/Tides/Storms." Kanna says, "Oh, and earlier before Jacui came on the scene, the theatre was also visited by the four Penvensy children... from the Chronicles of Narnia, as which you may recall featured a certain White Witch by the name of Jadis... a bunch of bepedal medival-dressed rabbits... and a rave." She looks rueful. Kanna purses her lips. "DAmn, no details on specific features/capabilities?" Beowulf blinks, and smiles slightly. "Really. What did they see, I wonder? And I wonder if they need help..." Kanna says, "I mean, we can -guess-.. but if the opposition has something like a Lion Spikard in their hands...." Beowulf frowns. "Particularly if the Lion Spikard was corrupting the visions in the Shadow Theatre." Kanna hehs a bit. "I tried peeking, but the Temporal Scry fuzzed out when we tried to focus on it." Kanna says, "I'm not surprised." Beowulf says, "Nope, no details on the features/capabilities." Kanna mmmsm. "I remember a story mom told me once, about their trip out of Gamber, and it seemed pretty inncouous when it came to the storytelling. I think the compulsions and stuff only kick in when you -wear- the Lion Spikards." Kanna says, "As long as it's not -worn-, and you just hook up to the feeds..." She shrugs. "But I don't know spikards, really, just what I gleaned from mom's stories." Kanna says, "You'd have to ask somebody like Anno or Great-Grandfather about the risks of even trying to tap." ===== ===== The_Prof pages, "John also said it listed their proper names, will pass 'em along as soon as he gets 'em to me. Ring of Passion is apparently Rathos, now isn't that a surprise?" to you. You page, "not much of one at this point, but hey. :)" to The_Prof. The_Prof pages, "Oh, yes, surprise. ^_^" to you. ===== ===== Beowulf asks, "Indeed..." He smiles. "Great-grandfather or Great-grandfather?" Kanna says, "Well, -you've- got two.." She grins a bit. Kanna then shakes her head. "So, at the moment, the situation is as it stands, going with Worse Case...." Beowulf says, "Ah, here they are -- still a bit new at reading Sidar. The names of the Lion spikards: Karthos: The Ring of Flames, Yuthos: The Ring of Lightning, Rathos: The Ring of Passions, Mithos: The Ring of Winds, Darthos: The Ring of Seeing, Nimthos: The Ring of Dreams, Halthos: The Ring of Changes, Gaerthos: The Ring of Tides, Tirthos: The Ring of Storms. Karthos, Yuthos, and Tirthos fell into Ebenscrux's hands, and are now destroyed." Beowulf wipes his brow. "And thank goodness for that. Remind me to tell you my reaction when I heard they were destroyed." Kanna says, "Some outside force, having in their hands at -least- one Lion Spikard, has also got Wakaba, Jacqui, and Utena, quite possibly plugged into an Outsider Construct that will allow its users to tap the plugged-in person's abilities. And be at the risk of releasing an Outsider if it's overly tapped. WONDERFUL." Kanna says, "I can just imagine your relief, bey." She grins, cockeyed. Beowulf says, "Yup. Exactly what we faced at Ebenscrux. Though, heck, we may get to destroy another Lion spikard." Kanna asks, "Hopefully. How'd yours get destroyed? The patternblade do it?" Beowulf says, "My reaction when I heard they were destroyed: 'Dear Ghu I hope I don't have to go through this if I can track down another Lion spikard to destroy...'" Kanna laughs. Beowulf says, "Anno's response: 'Oh, it takes something on this scale to destroy Lion Spikards.'" Beowulf says, "My response: '...I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to that. I don't suppose you'd go on retainer, great-grandfather?'" Beowulf says, "He just laughed." Beowulf says, "Nope, the patternblade just cut the lines of power that formed the triangle." Beowulf says, "Actually, I'm not sure exactly how they were destroyed; that happened after I left the room and before Anno, Motoko, Nanami and Davros showed back up." Kanna says, "Ah, okay." Beowulf says, "Still, if this does end up being that hairy... well, I think that'd qualify as 'something on this scale'." He grins, looking a bit wild around the eyes. Kanna takes a deep breath, and shakes her head. "Good effing Pyricorn, this is gonna be a ride and an half, bey. I do NOT relish going up Aunt Utena's blade skills, your mom's sorcery, or Jacqui's... well, sheer capability for destruction. Plus whoever else these yahoos might have plugged in. And if they're in Dinosaur World like i suspect... jeezus. But still, wev'e got no choice. We've got to get 'em out of there." Her features steel for a moment, and then sighs, realxing a bit with concern as she sees Beowulf's state. She reaches through the trump contact to hug again. Kanna says, "you got any place with decent fasttime down there in Chaos, Bey? you look like you effing -need- it." Beowulf says, "Well, there's a couple of fasttime spots... maybe I could slip away with Lily for a bit in one of those, dear Ghu I owe her some good times after all the trouble I've put her through, and I'll probably be of more use to folks when I've rested up a bit. Well. Anyway... yes, we've *got* to get them out of there. If you can wait for the assault for a few days, you can get me in on it, and hopefully Uncle Drake... maybe even Aunt Nanami. That all would help immensely." Beowulf says, "I think our biggest problems were 1) the diversion that failed to divert... though I understand they jumped the gun a bit when they tried to hit the construct; and 2) overconfidence. Which I think just about everyone felt." Kanna nods. "It's a balance between time for the enemy to get entrenched and used to the powers, and to FINDING them, which is the biggie. Even Dinosaur World is a couple day trip by Hellride." Kanna quirks a smile. "Hey, go visit House Aesir. I hear they have good fasttime there." She winks. Beowulf says, "Um, yes." He grins. "However, until Hoard is settled, one way or the other, I don't think I ought to drop by there. However much fun it might be to quaff in the great hall, assuming it is fun." He quirks an eyebrow. Kanna says, "Am I concerned? Yes. Am I worried? Fuck yeah. I don't know even close to anything worthwhile on where they are, who holds them, or what forces they could throw against us. But we -need- to find out, and get moving, somehow, and get them the hell out of there. In all likelyhood, Tylor'll have us hold so we CAN get Nagisa and Mikage to come along, which'll help on the mental end. And By that point, Kafuin and Morgenstern may be online as well." Kanna says, "Oh, from what I hear from Shinobu, it's -very- fun." She grins, ruefully. Kanna says, "I'll report this all to the king, and your recommendation." Beowulf nods. "That would be a help, indeed. And if Moonshade is on a par with Moriya and myself, that'll help some against whoever the construct gives Utena's powers to." Beowulf nods. Kanna nods. "I can take Aunt Utena hand to hand. With a blade?" She winces, as sparring memories come to mind. "No effing way in the Abyss." Kanna says, "In essence, whatever plan we have distills to 'get in, get them, get the fuck out'. Everything else is icing." Kanna says, "But yes, if we can get Uncle Drake... I've heard mom's stories." Beowulf asks, "I hope to Ghu... well, in some ways it'd be *helpful* if they've recovered one of the other Patternblades or a logrusfoil, since it would save us the trouble of tracking it down later... but they were a nightmare used against us. I don't think Utena had a weapon on that scale, did she?" ===== ===== You page, "I think Utena had a force-level sword, not a primal/apocolyptic, yes?" to Akemi. You page, "(Since I would've sparred with her, sometimes with her with that blade, etc. Just to learn how to -DODGE- if nothing else... :)" to Akemi. Akemi pages, "Force level." to you. ===== ===== Kanna shakes her head. "No, not -that- deadly." She hrms. "Actually, I think I got a piece of loot from the key-hunt that might help with that.... perhaps I'll loan it to Moonshade, though she said she already had a sword." Kanna asks, "Oh, speaking of keys, you were mentioning something about that earlier?" Beowulf asks, "Oh, right. Grandmother said that great-grandfather hadn't made it, which means it's a fake -- what does that do with your theories about Inji?" Kanna purses her lips. "Either your great-grandfather contracted out to a mercenary logrus master to make all three keys... which is possible. Or that Inji was in league with somebody else, and swapped the real for the one he gave me." Beowulf nods. "Well, I can ask great-grandfather about that while I'm down here. If Anno contracted the keys out... but then, I can't really imagine him doing that." He blinks. Kanna says, "Which makes me wonder why the hell he'd give -me- the fake to possibly give to you, unless he has plans to waltz in on the endgame, use the -real- key to snag the spikard and stuff." Kanna shakes her head. "Nor can I, really. And you're in a better position to ask. If you've still got it on you, have him look at it." Kanna says, "Or some spell on it, or something." She frowns. "Better have Mia look at it before we head off." Kanna says, "I'm leery about leaving it behind... but I'm starting to be leery about -taking- it with me, too." She sighs. Beowulf nods. "Yup. I'm trying to think of motives for him giving you a song-and-dance like that if it were fake... the best I can come up with is trying to either delay us in going for Hoard, or keeping it out of my hands and in hands more favorable to him." Kanna says, "And there's this entire ghost deal as well... as -it- was implying to keep it OUT of -your- hands and give it to somebody else." Beowulf asks, "I've still got the one I found on me, yes; that one wasn't in much doubt, though. Are you saying you want to pass yours along to me so I can have him check it out?" Kanna eyerolls. "I do NOT like how many fucking layers of supposition this thing is having nested." She considers it, and shakes her head. "I had your grandmother look at it, and I trust her judgement on the construction. Which means Inji probably has the real one, unless Anno specifically went splitsies on this." Kanna says, "I think keep them seperate for the moment, but I might leave it back in Ember in the vaults when we go missioning, after I have Mia look at it." Beowulf says, "Not that there aren't a few good people to give Hoard to if it actually *weren't* safe for me to have it... but in some way, it almost feels like it was meant for me, the way it matches my strengths. And Anno did admit to pointing me in that direction." Beowulf nods. "Right. If it's not safe in Ember... well, it still might be safer with you -- I trust your guarding skills!" -- he grins -- "but that's probably as safe a place as any you could find." Kanna hms. "Straight from the mouth of the Keeper of the Logrus... that does weigh -in- your favor, then..." She sighs. "I dunno, bey." Beowulf nods. Kanna grins a bit. "Thanks for your vote of confidence, Bey." Kanna says, "I just have this feeling we're not going to figure out what's up with the spikard until we actually make the final approach for it, by at which point all the worms'll come outta the woodwork." Kanna says, "Then again, I had Davros, Anthy, AND Fuyutsuki look at the key itself, and they all pretty much reacted as if it wasn't a threat, so..." She shrugs. Kanna says, "I'll have Mia give it one more once-over, and we'll see from there." Beowulf says, "Ooohhhh, yah. I've wanted to get this whole thing over with quickly, so we can move on to the other projects -- but I haven't been pushing *quite* as hard with it, since with at least one and possibly two keys in our hands, no one else could go after it successfully. Of course, that could mean they're waiting there for us to walk up..." Kanna says, "And -speaking- of whom... yeah, exactly... I'd best finish this conversation and get folks moving on stuff." She smiles a bit. "Give my love to everybody down there, let them know we're getting ready to kick ass, Pyricorn and Unicorn's luck to you all... and do you think Moriya would appreciate a Bonsai as a gift for taking out the Cyberpope?" She grins. Beowulf says, "Heh. I don't see why not... he could use a bit of cheering up, I think, what with his father and Motoko." Beowulf says, "Will pass along your love to everyone, and let them know about the *other* missing family members." He sighs. Kanna nods. "I'll see what I can do about obtaining it, and have it ready for him when he gets back in range." She smiles softly, sighs, nods, and gives Bey one last hug for the road. "Take care, Bey. Glad you didn't get spacked." Beowulf hugs back. "Thanks. If we don't make it to you in time... hope *you* don't get spacked. And give my regards to everyone up there, and I hope Moonshade finds the *good* parts of her father's legacy." Kanna nods. "I will. She approves of his Martial exploits, at least." She smiles a bit. "LAter." Beowulf says, "Later on, Kanna." Beowulf closes the trump connection. ===== ===== Beowulf says, "OOC And whew, wasn't that a long catch-up session? o.o" Kanna OOCly says, "Oh yes. But needed." ===== ===== Kanna takes a deep breath, and looks at those around the table, if they're still there. "-Well-. Beowulf sends his regards, and... it has officially hit the fan, and it is stinky." Gabrielle mms through her food. "The thing with the keys bugs me." Kanna nods. "Yeah." She frowns. "The entire Inji thing is becoming a damn Gordian Knot of what ifs and maybes." Gabrielle knods. "Know what I think we should do?" Kanna says, "Hmmm?" She arches an eyebrow, quickly re-writing some of her notes to more cohesive form. "Tell Saionji," she says promptly. "I don't like manipulating him, but from what I can tell, he has... kind of a -thing-... about Van-related issues." She takes another bite of her sandwich. "I gaurentee he'll blaze a ten-mile wide swath through Shadow trying to track Kuonji down." Gabrielle says, "He won't succeed, of course, but constantly re-directing him should keep Kuonji busy for awhile." Kanna quirks a rueful smile at that. "I'll take it under advisement. That may just work, though. He had air pattern and the story -was- plausable... even with rumor, -we're- busy, but I don't know if Uncle Saionji is." Kanna says, "'Hi, we can't keep track of this, but we think you might be interested in a possible branch of the line....'" Kanna says, "I just don't want Uncle Saionji compromised." She shakes her head. "It's something I need to mull over a bit before committing." Gabrielle turns to Touga, presuming he's still at the table. "Touga, you hung with Saionji a lot. am i reading him right, or is he a lot more subtle than he acts?" Touga says, "Saionji is rarely subtle, but he is experienced enough not to approach every problem with a banzai sword charge." Kanna nods. "He did help Shizumaru get his mom back, for one." She smiles a bit. Touga says, "For example, Saionji is quite skilled at the use of Pattern; while he's never studied advanced arts, he is quite good at using the ones he has." Kanna nods to that, looks down at her notes, and claps the pad closed. "Well, guys and gals. Time to go see the king, and those who weren't in on the convo... I'll fill you in when I tell him what happened." Gabrielle waves. "Have fun." She turns to Shinobu Minor. "Have I shown you the Tower of Heat Diffusion, dear?" Shinobu Minor says, "Daddy took me when I was too young to understand any of it." =========================== =========================== Kanna OOCly says, "And I think with THAT I can call it a night, and we can gloss over Kanna reporting to Tylor everything that's happily happened with Bey and Folks, and their own stuff, and thereby counting in filling in the other members of the team as weell." Davros exclaims, "OOC righto!" Gabrielle says, "OOC: You missed a real show in the other room, Phil. >.<;;;" Beowulf OOCly nods. "And now we're prepped for the next round of action... :)" Beowulf says, "OOC Oh, so, Merc? o.o" Davros exclaims, "RESCUE THEATRE!" Beowulf isn't sure he wants to know. ^_^ Kanna OOCly says, "... oh dear?" Gabrielle says, "OOC: The session which shall be known as 'Crisis of Infinite Motokos.'" Kanna OOCly says, "*deadpan* what happened. merc." Kanna OOCly says, "*deadpan* oh." Moriya says, "It's bloody amazing. But we've captured the demoness that beglamored Shizumaru, after putting Moriya through the emotional wringer." Kanna OOCly says, "yay!" Beowulf says, "Oooooh. :) That will help even more... this Trial is looking better and better." Gabrielle says, "Well, an Abyss Critter shapeshifted into Motoko to try and seduce Moriya. then Kitsune showed up, also shapeshifted into motoko, also planning to seduce him." Kanna OOCly gets Moriya and Shizumaru BOTH Bonsais. Gabrielle says, "Then the real motoko showed up." Gabrielle says, "And that's when things turned ugly." Beowulf reminds himself to give Mitsune a swat like she'll never forget for trying *that* on Moriya. :p Kanna OOCly says, "oh dear." Beowulf says, "Um, yah, I can imagine. o.o" Motoko says, "You left out the part about Moriya having extensive mad smoochies with the abyss demon before Mitsune showed up." Beowulf facepalms. Kanna OOCly says, "nayway. I go bed now. When you planning to hit the Closet of Comics tomorrow, John?" Davros says, "Well, she recognized herself it was a bad idea when she saw Moriya and Motoko having smoochies :)" Davros says, "Probably either around lunchtime or just before I leave college park (around sixish)" Kanna OOCly nods. Might be there at the later time, might not. We'll see. Kanna OOCly says, "anyway, to bed now." Gabrielle says, "night, Phil." Beowulf says, "Sleep well, Phil." Philip Moyer----------------Qapla'-------------pmoyer@jurai.net "To boldly go where no one has gone before!"-Capt. J. L. Picard "Roads? Where we're going we don't NEED roads!"-Dr. E. L. Brown "If it can be dreamed, It can be done."- ReRob Mandeville "Someday we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection, The Lovers, ---------- The Dreamers, and Me."- Kermit The Frog ------------