Median was able to retrieve the cup without issue with a few minutes work and only a few suggestions from Ash on how to do it. Most of them would probably even have worked without tripping something. The cup feels...blessed, sacred in her hands, but also sad, somehow.
Median is surprised that she is getting any emotion feeling from the cup at all. She tries to connect mentally to it to see if there is more.
There's something there. A vast well of power, pure and cool. But there is also thoughts, feelings...what was once a person, maybe. They seem to be asleep, or dreaming, or something close to it. But it will probably be possible to wake them up, or something close to it.
Median tries to wake the person up, sifting through the thoughts, trying to find out how a person became a cup, or so connected to one, and attempting to get their attention about the very bad dimensional rupture or whatever it was, mentally sending all of her experiences about it and the creepy thing that was after them as well.
Ross stands around, Median was having a moment with the cup. He thought they’d do well to try putting the rock in the cup but thought it’d be a decent idea to at least wait until Median finished…whatever she was doing.
Joseph continues to hold the adherent item in the quickly deteriorating box. "Whatever you're doing, Median. Do it faster!!"
"Normally I'd agree with you, but I'm not sure we have any better ideas going on."
Jennifer tries to cross her arms in a huff, but ends up rubbing her upper arms like she's cold and looking around.
There was a sense of stirring, and then, Why? echoed through the mind of everyone present. It was distinctly feminine, and even the single world carried a crisp but hard to place accent.
Median focuses and sends thoughts of the dimension-destroying rift, and fear of death, and trying to help the people that were around here, including the disembodied beings...
"Understood," the voice replied, now above the party. A woman floated above the party, or perhaps the spirit of one, as she seemed unsubstantial and formed of the energy of life. "Do you wish to use this failure to reinforce this plane?" she asked, her voice tinged with sadness as she spoke.
I'm sorry, I don't know what failure you refer to, or the repercussions of the choice you are offering. I want to save the people around me, and hopefully this world/dimension/reality, but is there a cost to that? If so, what will happen? Does this cause you personal sadness or pain?
Ross was more curious with who this being might be, ”And, who…who are you? Why were you in that cup?”
"This cup and I are one and the same, a failed attempt to make the Greal Sanctaidd," the woman replied.
"Sadness is my nature. The creation of the cup involved a pure life. The remnants of this life are what I am. Since the cup is a tool of creation then it can heal the wounds of reality, but the soul bound within - me - will be released, the potential of there life used in a single moment. A new cup will then be formed. It's form and function will be different, but someone here will become. That is the cost."
"You mean to say that we must sacrifice one of ourselves to heal these wounds in reality? Or can you give yourself to heal them, and we would need to sacrifice one of our number to make a new cup?"
Median says
Done. I will pay the cost and become the new cup, in order to save my friends and this world.
She takes the manacles off of Asha and lets her leave.
"My life force would be used to heal the rift, and I freed to what waits after. A new person must take the place," the girl agreed, "But I was a failure. Trapped, tormented without purpose or form. The same would not be true, automatically, for the replacement. What I am is a wish made manifest, ready to be used. I, too, have wishes. One of them can be for this to end. That the one who replaces me will not suffer so. But it will not be without suffering, either."
She shook her head at Median's offer. "This is not something to chose, but to be chosen for. I have no control where this shall go. Only that someone near shall be chosen, and that it will be a cost."
"And finally," she added, "I am not the true Greal, made of limitless power. A single life's energy has limits. I can start the process to heal, and to make a chance for you to finish this task. I shall create the thread for the wound, but you must be the needle, and the hand which guides it."
Ash glanced around, and then down at her wrists, clearly waiting to see if someone objected as she eyed the entrance.
Zaoth thunders in Ross’ head,
Ross sighs, ”Then it seems like there’s no choice here. One of us’ll have to give ourselves up to heal the rift.”
Median says
Ash, get out of here, now. As fast and as far as you can. If it is going to choose anyone close to here, then you need to be on the other side of town. Get going!
She then responds to the cup-girl.
So, you go from telling me that you will be consumed in a moment to telling me that you will start something but someone else has to direct it... we don't know how to direct it! The disembodied spirits already said that they are working on it... but obviously very slowly, and I can't tell what is going on. I am sorry for what happened to you, and for your sadness, but can you help us or not? Do you actually know what is going on and how to solve it, or are you just as clueless as we are?
...And if you have wishes, why don't you just wish yourself back to your life?
”Desires, probably. Not capital-W ‘Wishes.’”
Joseph struggles with himself, having kept quiet, not wanting to sacrifice himself to saved nearby reality; and hating himself for his cowardice.
I'm the son of Odin. Tyr sacrificed his hand for the god's success. Is the life of a godling such a big sacrifice to the universe to help save it. Father! I love you! Remember me fondly!
"All Glory to the Allfather!" Joseph stammers aloud. "I offer the body of a half-god; my body, as sacrifice. May my dissolution bring Glory to the Aesir!" The young warrior proclaimed with sad eyes.
Jennifer's annoyance restores some of her previous bluster.
"Are you all dense? She said it's not up to any of us to choose!"
Joseph's annoyance also started to show.
"There's a difference between having your hand chopped off, and knowing you need to have your hand chopped off!!"
"Now whatever's gonna happened need to happen soon!" Joseph is still barely holding the quickly deteriorating box holding the reality destroyer. "I think 6 layers of old paperwork has been destroyed while we were having this conversation!"
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Joseph's annoyance also started to show.
"There's a difference between having your hand chopped off, and knowing you need to have your hand chopped off!!"
[dice=Intimidate (because it doesn't matter)]1d20 + 12
The half-god's outburst reminds her that she no longer half-anything. She looks away, refusing to meet anyone's eyes.
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"Then it is decided," the woman said. "An empty vessel shall be filled." The woman to flow, like water, above the cup.
"And that is my cue to leaves," Ash said, heading out the door hastily.
The woman, or water, or energy of life flowed into a whirlpool-like shape above the cup, sparkles of silver flowing through the form. Around and around it went and then it rushed outwards, a cloud of energy and light. The thread is in place, the voice announced, as the silver motes floated through the air around you, but you must be the hand. And thank you, for letting me be free..
The cup cracked.
And Jennifer was surrounded in silver light.
It is the gift of Soulfire. I am sorry, but the cost will come later. Farewell, now.
Ross’ eyes widen as he smiles slightly, ”Should’ve realized it was metaphorical. A living grail…isn’t that something.”
He looks over at Jennifer and says, ”Seems it’s up to you to close the holes in reality, then.”
Median stares at Jennifer, entranced by the silver light, wondering what was going to happen.
Joseph, still holding the deteriorating case, did his best to look on in awe of Jennifer's transformation.
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The cup cracked.
And Jennifer was surrounded in silver light.
Jennifer stumbled and gasped as once again her body and soul were invaded by a purpose not her own. When Syar'Ammag was exorcized from her, he left a hole inside of her; not just from his missing presence, but from having to finally face the years of her life he took from her. Her whole purpose had been his purpose, and when the demon left, Jennifer was forced to realize that on some levels she had embraced this possession because of the power and confidence that she had never experienced before.
Agency, corruption, and power, these are the things that created a hole in her being when Syar'Ammag departed. A hole that this living grail attempted to fill. Soulfire is aptly named, it turns out, because it burns. It burns in the veins and the nerves, and it burns away the shame and the fear. Having experienced the trauma of hellfire, Jennifer is no stranger to this sort of pain, and where once she would have dropped to her knees and wailed anguish, she now lifts her face to the sky and declares her acceptance with a shout of pure ectasy.
Breathing deeply, she looked around at the others. She forms her fingers into fists and curls her arms as if to sense their strength. Suddenly, she smiles a genuine smile. It's not the sort of smile Jennifer is used to, which was used to mock or show pleasure in someone else's pain. It's the kind of smile that shows as many teeth as possible, borne of a genuine delight.
"I am ready to F~+$ S$~~ up!" she announces.
"Does that mean it's safe to come back? Because I'm not sure I can leave the way I came in," Ash's voice calls from the hallway.
Are you serious? How did you come in, and why aren't you across town by now? Don't you know how to use a freaking door?
"Ha ha! Get back in here, thief! The soulfire from the Cup of Fever is contained!"
"That's...good?" Ash replied, looking for confirmation that this was, in fact, good. "Uh, I entered via a portal through another realm. Strange place, it looked like this world, but ruined, and then a place that just didn't do physics. Only the scroll that was meant to take me back isn't working and also there's nothing outside the windows. I assume the same is true of the doors."
"Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..WHAT?!" Joseph sets down the danger box and looks to find a window to peer outside.
There's nothing outside... what?
She goes to look for herself. Then she says
Well, that's a good reason not to leave I suppose. Sorry. I thought you could get away from this mess.
Jennifer's newfound enthusiasm dwindles as she also looks out the window and sees the void outside.
"What else has changed? Are our negative-space visitors still here? Is the liquid metal still creeping around?"
The negative space visitors are still there. As to the other, it isn't currently trying to kill anyone at the moment, so it's impossible to say if it's still in the building or merely somewhere else.
Joseph can see the nothingness outside the window. Reality seems to stop about 10ft away from the building, part way into the road. But there are flickers in the distance, too far for the human eye to see, motes of silver light against the void.
Ash shrugged. "One always accepts that you may be caught on a job. Not, you know, usually like this, but..."
Ross curses under his breath. Whatever this place was, it was close to wherever Zaoth came from. Far too close for comfort. Though Zaoth was hard to read, Ross guessed that he was nervous too. Small fish in a big pond full of unimaginable extradimensional horrors, and all that. The unseen beings at his side writhed and twisted, reflecting their master’s anxiety.
”This isn’t good. Really, really not good. Wherever we are, I think Zaoth is from it, or somewhere close. If he’s any indication of the folks around here, we’ve got even more trouble on our hands.”
Zaoth emerges from deep in Ross’ mind to telepathically muse in a mockingly offended tone,
He dredges through his mind and Zaoth’s to try and puzzle out just where they are, and more importantly, how they might get back.
"Ah." Joseph thought aloud. "So that's that 'cosmic horror' thing everyone's talking about. How the Hel did sh|t get worse?!"
Median walks over to one of the benches on the other side of the displays and sits down with her head in her hands... trying to get some space to breathe and think about what else she can possibly do.
She tries connecting to the disembodied entities again, to see if there has been any progress on their side, or if she can tell a difference in how they feel or what they see.
Joseph can tell of Median's stress and sits down next to her, placing both hands on her shoulders.
"We'll get out of this somehow, Median. Think of all we accomplished tonight. Granted it seems the Universe decided to cram one year's worth of crazy in one night. But we're all still alive. We can do this."
Joseph, get your hands off me, please. I didn't come over here to be comforted. I am trying to get away from people so I can concentrate.
If he doesn't let her go, she gets up and moves somewhere else.
The godling lets go and sets up from the bench to give median some room. Man, I can't read her. Must all the existential dread outside, Joseph thinks to himself, forgetting median's a telepath.
Median is able to connect to the two creatures. Or one creature. It's getting harder to tell where one leaves off and the other ends, like they're becoming one again, or perhaps for the first time. She gets a sensation of delay, that they're putting something off, or delaying something.
Ross understands that what they're seeing is a limited version of the multiverse theory. Reality is flaking, each choice breaking off. The problem is where under normal circumstances those different dimensions would create parallel universes, here they are all contained within there own private space. A space with finite energy. A thousand versions of the Museum, all vying for finite resources as the building falls between the gap in reality those holes made.
And each choice creates a new one, taking more of that energy. Eventually there will be no more to go around.
Which is a problem.
As well as noticing Midian's issue, Joseph gets the feeling something is approaching this exhibit.
”Well, I’m not sure where we’ve ended up is better or worse than Zaoth’s stomping grounds.” Ross explains what he’s figured out about the place before saying, ”So given that, I expect we’ll need to find a way to win against these other versions.”
Sensing danger, Joseph turns and takes a fighting stance against whatever is making it's approach. As Odin as my witness, I will never go anywhere without my weapons again!
Median wonders why the curator told them to use the cup when it doesn't seem to have done squat for the overall problem. I mean, she's glad Jennifer is energetic now and everything, but...
She asks the creatures telepathically if they can fix all this, and what they are delaying.
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"I'm going to see if the metallic ooze thing is still spreading."
Jennifer goes in the direction she last saw the phenomenon, taking care to be cautious since she doesn't know how far it could have spread.
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Midian gets a feeling of frustration, of misunderstanding, that what she wants them to do and what they are doing is the same thing.
Jennifer doesn't get too far - to the exhibit entrance - before she spots the floor tiles rolling, like a slow wave. Silver can be glimpsed as the tiles are displaced. It looks like the vast mass is in the floor, or ceiling if you were below, and will arrive in a minute.