"Gorden, I'm in need of a great deal of power, immediately." Kamii's slavering growl informed him, through the old black phone.
Straight to business then, and it sounded like a big order, Gorden felt an anticipatory thrill.
"Alright, I can accommodate you Mister Kamii. I'll need the specifics of course."
Kamii was silent for a moment. Then he explained the situation.
Gorden felt his anticipation fall a bit. He didn't have the vast resources of his previous employer and while he could get Kamii the god like power he needed he could only deliver it in a rather shoddy, impermanent and self destructive form. He told Kamii so.
"I don't care at all, I just need it quick." Kamii snarled.
Gorden, still holding the receiver a safe-ish distance from his face, took a deep breathe and thought quickly. While he had the sale in hand he still considered telling Kamii the true horror of what this particular product would do to him. It wasn't a matter of ethics, per se, simply that at this early stage of his business he really didn't need a bad reputation on the Other Side.
He decided to tell Kamii exactly what would happen to him.
"I said it doesn't matter!" Kamii said irritably. "If I get the Key back I can retrieve the God Force, I'll ascend to a new existence and leave this worthless body behind! Look Gorden, I've got six million dollars in a Bank of America account, I will literally give you all of it if you make this happen and make it happen fast!"
Gorden, whom had fallen back into his traditional hunch while talking to his client, straighten in shock.
"D-done!" He said in bewilderment.
"Good, now get it to me!" Kamii demanded.
As the line disconnected Gorden held the phone for a bit longer before putting the dangerous object back in its cradle.
A wide smile crossed his face and he peaked out of his office to talk to Helen.
"You are getting replaced as secretary soon." He said.
Her mouth stretched in a bitter line at the news.
"Because I just closed a big one, and you're getting a proper promotion!"
Helen looked as bewildered and elated as he felt.
After the Old Man of Tao's departure Kanzen sat, quiet and unmoving, on the first step of the next staircase.
Eventually Ak'Gak couldn't stand it any more.
"Well?" He demanded in a harsh, squeaky voice.
Kanzen slowly opened her eyes and her irises glittered like ice.
Ak'Gak suddenly felt a mortal dread, and he then remembered just who it was he was talking to.
Fortunately for him, Kanzen seemed uncaring of his rude faux pas.
She stood.
"There is more to this than meets the eye." Kanzen says softly to herself.
Though curious about what she is referring to exactly, Ak'Gak stays quiet, knowing anything he might say might lead to his mistress's attention, and perhaps a caress of her deadly claws as she acknowledged his slip.
Kanzen shook her head slowly.
"I'm getting distracted, what I need to do is what I wanted to do in the first place before all this."
She walked slowly to the edge of the landing then right off it, plummeting off the mountain.
"Waaaaaaiiiiitttt!" Ak'Gak screamed after her. After a moment he realizes she isn't coming back for him and he groans.
"At least the stairs will be easier going down then they were coming up..." He sighs.
Ashley skipped ahead of Joseph through the ruins of Al'Lamar, occasionally doing cartwheels or back flips with the kind of restless energy one often feels before embarking on an adventure.
"So you know how I am bad with money and you were always good?" She inquires of Joseph in an offhanded way as she performs a tight rolling leap over some debris.
Joseph tries to replicate Ashley's feats, Managing only to flop around like a fish out of water. He gives up after a moment when she makes her inquiry. "Noooooope" Joseph draws out sarcastically as he taps the side of his head.
"Just take my word for it." She says while upside down in a handstand.
"Well, we could use some walking around money and I know sorta where one of your old stashes is, it's got some good stuff in it, maybe we should stop by?" She inquires, her short hair dangling like the bottom of a broom without touching the ground.
"Well, let's get too it then. How much you reason I have in there?" Joseph stretches as the chat goes on, not really looking forward to the potentially long trek but definitely looking forward to having more than he does now.
"I'd imagine half a million gold, enough to get drunk on for quite a few lifetimes." Ashley informs him as she regains her feet in a slow, acrobatic planting of her feet behind her head.
As she straightens she says; "Oh, and also your dagger is in there."
Joseph almost doesn't hear the estimate through his focus on Ashleys acrobatic display, while it does take a moment the number does eventually sink in. "T-that's more than we payed for an army of giant mercenaries to guard us for a whole season!... and that's just ONE stashe?! How many of those do I HAVE?!"
"Ahhh, a few at least?" Ashley seems excited at the prospect of digging up old treasure with Joseph. "Nest eggs, I believe you called them!" She says, coming up besides him and matching his more normal pace. "Drinking money for the ages!"
Joseph picks up his pace too a quick, exited jog and motions for Ashley to follow. "Well lets go get it then! Damn, bet you could fund a small city with all that's in those stashes!" A short while after starting the jog Joseph smile's at Ashley "Bet this isn't what you meant when you suggested putting my endurance to the test?" He chuckles and then remembers a curiosity he had on his mind for a while.
"So what did you and your partner talk about on our way here? When he pulled you aside, no need to divulge if its not for my ears. Just curious."
They where holding hands, she know what would come next. A psi-port across dimensions. She could do it herself but it was hard to do unless you know where you where going. She could feel the port power building and the shift start. She was still a little in shock, she had taken life. But was this real, she had been in many a mind-scape and that could feel just as real as reality. Was this a mind-scape a test by her commanders to see how she would act in such a situation. But even as she thought this she felt it was wrong. This was real and if so this place that had been talked about, this "Earth" or was it "Dirt" in the minds she was linked too she could see an image of this world. It was not her home, yet she had a nagging feeling she had been there before. This could be the tell tail sign of a post mission mind-wipe. Taking away information that was felt sensitive. Yet there was always some seepage and she had been trained to post it, even if it mean in herself.
Run image of "Earth" information query
Running
Now it was a matter of waiting while her other-self sort what little there may be left in her own mind of this world.
The craft was vast, on any normal world it would match a continent, but out in the void it as no more significant than the lumps of ice that orbited the old red sun. There where no worlds to be seen. Long ago pulled off by a passing younger star, this red orb was all that could see the city tumbling around it. One half of the craft was rock, hard back rock with countless tunnels of openings over its surface. Here and there could be seen the pockmarks of old commit strikes. Other rocks falling into the dying sun. The other half of the craft was a dome, made from a single span of some transparent matter or force. It was clean, glinting off the red light that truck it. Under this dome could be see a vase sprawling city of complex structures. There did not seem to be rhyme or resin to the buildings. No center one could see, to areas of form that made any logical seance. Not to the human mind any how. Tall habitats, what looked to be office building, parks, road and air ways, all there to be soon. Everything a race would need to live. But for one thing, the city was devoid of life, nothing moved, all was still and dead. Going throw the streets doors where closed, shops shuttered, ground craft and air craft parked. No animals of plants could be seen, no beings of any kind. All was if it had been build yesterday and never used. Deep down inside one of the building, behind locked doors there was how ever one sign of life. A simple red light, came to life, and started winking on of off, over and over. Next to it was a name, a label above which the light flashed.
The label read
Agent: Qillion De-Shard [7860002-33] Active.
The light kept winking in the darkness, but no one came.
"Hm, Thoth does not seem to be responding to my calls. I fear I will have to depart to my sanctum to investigate this, meditate on the currents of the divine." He places a hand on Zaidel's shoulder and says, "My friend, take care of the pack in my stead." He turns to the others and says, "Know that I will be watching over you all." He steps back and closes his eyes and begins chanting, suddenly disappearing in a burst of light.
The Vulture King disappears in a burst of light. As his eyes readjust, Zaidel looks around to his fellow Returned, along with the members of Vulture King's new followers in the courtyard where they currently stand.
Looking around bewildered, the god-blooded Zaidel mutters, "What?"
Qillion De-Shard let go of the hands she had been holding.
::Report::
She asked her suits Psi-mind.
::"Psi-port-linkage fail"::
In other words they where going nowhere for the moment. Well best report in.
::"Py-D communication link?"::
::Signal was sent at moment of activation, Py-D stratum zero response"::
This shocked her, and her eyes went wide for a moment. That was impossible. The mete-psi-net could be contacted past dimensions and any known barrows. Even if something worked to block it there would be a negative response showing such. To have zero meant, here contact form was getting there but, no one was answering. How could that be possible? Note just psi-hubs but also the 10,000s of other agents. Not one was responding. She let that sink in. Something was very very wrong here. She sort the result of her inquiry of earlier.
::"Earth, what of this Earth?"::
::"No refinances or information could be found. This world/place is not in our records."::
Again shock, how could this be, they had listed all known places of counter entropic activity in the cosmos so how? She took a step back from the others. Looking around at the place she was in. Could this be a test, as all she could think. Because the alternative was to terrify to contemplate. She was alone, utterly and completely alone. Fear started deep in her soul. The strength of an agent was not the deigned body the possessed, nor the advanced psi-tech they carried, it was the vast sums of knowledge and intellectual resources as their disposal by means of the collective mind links. advice could be given, and plans could be formed in a moment and 1000s of mind worked as one over vast distances and dimensions.
Now the shock that she would alone, there was no back up, no one to help her out there hit home. Time that had to be it, she must have been sent back in time, to before the agency was formed, that had to be it, she was lost in past time.
::"Show me the chronometer reading, all of them"::
The symbols flashed over her mind view, long chains of forms, as she read them her shock depend. She had been wrong, very wrong, she had not been sent BACK in time but forward, millennia forward, she was in the future, not the past. A future so far ahead that, her world her home, her people may not even exist anymore. Her mother... She shook her head. That was an implant, no the agency was... it may all be gone. She took deep breaths. Alone. That was all she could think of she was alone.
She looked at Zaidel, trying to not let her feelings of panic show. She refocused and forced herself to speak.
"Yes what, what now?"
Smacking his tongue to get moisture back into them, Zaidel poses, "It look like we're gonna stay in Al'Lamar a little longer."
After a few moments, the god-blooded man chimed up again. "Well, if we are staying the night at least, we should find some beds to rest, if nothing else, to put our packs down in."
Nods and follows the large man towering over her.
She felt so lost inside, so confused, how had this come to pass, what had happened. Then she noticed the man was hurt.
"You are heart, I can heal you if you wish"
Zaidel puts his hand on the cut on his head. Pulling it back, he notices it's has a little blood on it.
"I think I'll be okay", Zaidel admits. "V.K. took care of the most of it. Hopefully sleep will take care of the rest, but thanks anyway", the big warrior said to Qillion with a grin.
"I imagine it's gonna get dark soon. Since we're postponing our trip to visit the Egyptian God of Wisdom, I'd like to keep working on clearing the streets and hopefully finding more survivors before it gets to dark."
She thought a moment
::This place is called Al'Lamar, run trace::
::unable to access records, no record in internal banks::
again the pang of panic, this day she had killed and now...
"Yes Companion, I agree and I will help"
She walked a short way and found a chunks of wall fallen over a door way. She held out her hand as if trying to grasp the chunk of wall from afar. then lifted her head, as she did so the rock moved as the same speed as if being picked up by some invisible force, She moved her hand to the left and so went the wall, Then carefully she placed her hand down and the wall with it.
She walked into the door way to see what was inside and if anyone could be saved. She found a huddled family. Mother father and son.
"Its fine I am not here to hurt you, please make your way to safe spaces being set up by others"
She then turned and walked out, off to see other such trapped.
She walked across the court yard some more and checked for others trapped and hurt.
The day passes fairly uneventfully. The party is able to find an abandoned manor that they convert into into a temporary camp. The group reconvenes at the manor around twilight, finding themselves sitting around in the large central courtyard of the manor. Suddenly, a tall seemingly elven man steps out of a tree at the center. He wears armor sculpted from leaves and great wings of leaves extend from his back. He says in a regal voice, tinted with an accent that sounds vaguely familiar yet impossible to place, "Greetings. I am Aerach, envoy of the Princes of Summer and emissary of the King of Dandelions. My liege is in need of your aid and requests your presence in his court."
The Princes of Summer are a powerful Seelie fey court, led by the King of Dandelions, one of the oldest fey kings.
The big warrior spent the remainder of the day helping to clear Al'lammar's streets of debris. He would occasionally get stopped by a random townperson coming back to their homes, and get thanked for the actions of The Returned in the defense of their city. Some would stay to help Zaidel to remove what debris they could. One craftsman gifted a beautiful acoustic guitar to the big warrior, who originally was going to refuse, for it was very exquisite; but the guitar maker insisted. As Zaidel worked, he thought about the amazing long day, it's activities, it's discoveries. Yet despite it all, the god-blooded was surprised that his body was not at all tired.
If I was in my old body, I'd be beyond exhaustion!
As twilight descends, Zaidel joins up with the rest of The Returned to talk about their time in the city after the invasion. Zaidel decided to showcase the musical instrument gift to the others. Sitting down and strumming it, Zaidel was hit with an amazing feeling of recognition: Zaidel knew how to play guitar! To test this theory, the big warrior began to play a small chord which he followed to it's end, adding his own vocals to the song. And Zaidel could SING! Both of these talents were beyond Joe Zaidel, but not Zaidel Michigan: Righter-Of-Wrongs and Singer-Of-Songs!!
After a few other tunes, the revelry was interrupted by the appearaqnce of the elven man from the tree. With deftness, Zaidel had put the guitar away and drawn his sword in shield in seconds.
"Greetings. I am Aerach, envoy of the Princes of Summer and emissary of the King of Dandelions. My liege is in need of your aid and requests your presence in his court."
Zaidel looked to Liriiestil for a response.
"Do all flowers have kings?" asks Kei, looking completely confused.
Lir was a bit surprised and taken aback by Aerach's appearance. It was not often the fae courts sent envoys to the mortal realms, which meant that the situation was likely grim indeed.
He bows respectfully, one king to the emissary of another, and says in Sylvan "Greetings Aerach, tis been ages since I have met with a courtier from the Princes of Summer, and even longer since I last visited their freehold. Tell me cousin, what is so dire that they need our help?"
Aerach chuckles as Kei’s remark, ”Ha, I like your spirit young one. While some flowers may have a king, my liege is not one such. It is simply that he has no need for a name such as mine or yours.” He turns to Lir and scowls slightly, ”An old foe has returned that even the King of Dandelions cannot handle alone. Forces of Umraidh the Pretender have been seen amassing between the Seelie and Unseelie courts. It seems he seeks to take the throne of the high king of the fey.”
In the countless milennia before the fey encountered mortal life, they were ruled by a high king. With the discovery of mortals, the fey realms were split into two, the high king banishing himself to wander the endless realms. The Seelie courts see mortals as a curiosity, almost as distant relations to be prodded towards decent ends, with a healty serving of pranks and jests. Unseelie fey, on the other hand, detest mortals and seek make their short lives miserable. Since the fracturing, the courts have been bitter rivals, only uniting briefly once.
Umraidh the Pretender was a powerful fey warrior-king who sought the take the mantle of high king for himself. The two courts, content with their freedom and skeptical of his claim, fought back. The ensuing war brought the only defeat the Princes of Summer ever suffered as well as devastation throughout the lands of the fey. Only the combined mights of the Seelie and Unseelie courts could seal Umraidh and his forces away in the vast barrow complex of Umraidh’s Folly, located in the hinterlands between the two court’s vast realms.
"Um..I'm unfamiliar with The King of Dandelions." Zaidel admitted. "Don't take offense, but does he stand with the Seelie or Unseelie Courts?"
"What do these names mean?" asks Kei.
"What do these names mean?" asks Kei.
"Seelie means 'benevolent'", Zaidel explained with 'air quotes', "unseelie means malevolent."
Aerach whirls toward Zaidel, his fine features taking on a terrifying countenance. He pulls a dagger from his belt and says in a strange, hollow voice, "Wretch, you dare presume my liege's alleigance. I should down where you stand!" He then jumps backward, putting the dagger away almost as quickly as he drew it and chuckles, "That is how the encounter would have gone if he was of the Unseelie fey. No, his is one of the Seelie courts, in good standing."
Zaidel chuckles sarcastically, "Ha ha. Very funny." The big warrior's tone then changed to genuine. "Honestly, I've always had a distant appreciation for The Seelie Court for most of my life. I've always keep a healthy distance from fairy rings, and I've always thought the line of trees behind my mom's house was a nearby portal to the fey realms. Second Edition Monster Mythologies, A Midnight Summer's Dream, all that great stuff!"
Will ion had been lost in her own thoughts as the new comer talked. But as the conversation got heated her attention shifted to the conversation. She got up from where she was seated and walked up to join the others. She got her psicristal to play back the parts of the conversation she had missed.
But she said nothing as she watched the events play out.
Kei mutters something about gaijin cosplayers, then says "So, your Daimyo wishes a request of our fellowship. Are we meant to go to him, or is he coming to us?"
Lucas had mostly stayed out of the way of the people working to restore the town. He hadn't been there for too long and, to his knowledge, this version of himself had no history here, so he didn't even feel bad for not pitching in in the main effort. It wasn't until that evening as he was cleaning his rifle and sorting his ammunition that he realized that he would have helped if he were still on Earth. It unsettled Lucas to see a true difference in behavior between who he still thought of himself as, and who, it seems, he has always truly been.
Lucas was so wrapped up in his thoughts that even the appearance of a fey emissary did little more than make him work more quickly to get his weapon back in working order; fortunately, the cleaning was mostly complete - Lucas only had to reattach the receiver and stock together and reinsert the bolt. Taking an extra two seconds to function check the bolt and trigger groups, and then another two seconds to quick-load a five-round clip of his standard ammunition, the whole ready process took only fifteen seconds from the weapon's broken-down starting position. So Lucas was ready when Aerach's demeanor shifted and a dagger appeared in his hand. Racking the bolt and sighting in, Lucas seemed to be the only one ready for a fight when the fey creature decided it was just playing a game with Zaidel. Still, Lucas hesitated before lowering his weapon again, but he decided not to say anything unless Aerach commented on it first.
Easier just to let Lir deal with this one, Lucas sighed to himself.
Aerach smiles at Kei, ”Ha, you are ever entertaining. My lord is not a daimyo, though go far enough into the fey lands and you may find one. You shall come to him, if you’ll give me a moment.” With that Aerach flourishes his hands and produces and acorn from thin air. He kneels and presses it into the dirt of the central garden with his thumb and steps back. A few seconds later, two branches erupt from the ground, twisting together to form an archway. The air shimmers before a interesting scene is visible through the arch. Beings of unearthly beauty cavort about while unearthly music can be faintly heard. Aerach motions to the gate, ”If you’ll step through the gateway, the King of Dandelions is on the other side.”
Zaidel sheaths his longsword and shield. "If you're going, Liriiestil, I'll follow", the big warrior nodded.
Looks at the arch way then nods as well. She too will follow.
Kei steps through, not sure what to expect.
Lir smiles at Zaidel, "Of course I'm going. I'm distantly related to the Dandelion Kings, so it would will be good to see them again. Also, Umraidh is grave, serious threat, and I would be remiss if I didn't go offer my aid." With that, he steps through the gateway right after it's formed.
Zaidel follows Big L.
Stepping into the court, everything feels...different. Colors are brighter, sounds more intense. The court itself extends far to the sides, with a great vaulted ceiling held up by great wooden beams carved with intricate designs of twisting and spiralling knots. The dancers stop for a moment, most turning to look at the party before dancing away, forming something of a path through the festivities. And at the end of the path sits the King of Dandelions, lounged on an ornate throne. He seems to be a young elven man, dressed in a flowing robe woven from leaves, a wreath of dandelions resting on his brow. He smiles upon seeing the group and stands up, motioning to the crowd who stop again and look at him. He then annouces, ”Do my very eyes deceive me, or is this Liriiestil that I do see? Aerach has done his job I’d guess, of all my agents he is far the best. So you I welcome all to my great court, where you are free to frolick and cavort!”
Many fey courts, the King of Dandelions’ included, practice a strange custom of rhyming greetings. While not mandatory, wit and wordplay is a valued skill among the fey, especially the Seelie, and would go a long way to impress.
Kei stands and watches the spectacle, again in awe of the superhuman grace that the dancers exhibit. He then starts looking around for an out-of-the-way spot to observe the proceedings.
She watched the other stepped through, then followed. She felt better to be away from where she had killed. The shock of coming back into consciousnesses and this world, this odd world she know so little about.
Her mind was still processing all this when she stepped into to the court of the Fey.
The colors shapes and forms. The Dancing and music, it was surreal, on one side of the gate death and destruction on the other a hedonistic party.
Knowledge came to her mind, unbidden but there it was. The fey she know of them. She also know her mined had been compromised, that image she kept getting of a young woman walking down a street with her mother. That could not be real.
She looked at her hand, it glowed, she know she was a constructed thing. Her suit her body and even her mind, Construed, made. She was a made thing and so why should she trust her memory's. She know things and did not know how she know them. Like here a fey court, they way the liked to act, the way they talked. She did not remember reading this, learning it in a class, yet she know it. So implanted and if so, so her very memory's could be as well.
Those thoughts had been going around in her head all day. But now she pushed them aside, she was here and now, and had to deal with what was here and now.
She wanted to reply but the moment from the Fey lord had been address to Liriiestil and so etiquette would be to keep silent until address directly.
"Sigh. Alright, let's find out what sort of circus we're being roped into now." Lucas waits a few seconds after Lir, Zaidel, Kei, Qillion, and Aerach have stepped through the portal before stepping through as well, making sure to keep his weapon at the alert so as not to present himself too aggressively. He figured that this would give them both time to move out of the way and also to take the attention of anybody who might have been watching the portal.
Lucas steps through the portal and rejoins his group unobtrusively to all except the most vigilant of observers, and immediately scans the active crowd for any immediate threats and obvious escape routes.
Light entered the room of the winking light, deep in the belly of the now dead city in space. It was a intense white light the shone for a moment and then faded. As it did it reviled a hooded female figure standing in jet black clothing. Two hands went up and pulled back the hood. A small shower if ice crystals feel onto the floor of the room as the hood went back. The figure turned its head slowly and the winking red light, lit a perfect face, a face that was as still as a glass dolls. The figure seemed to drift not walk over to the winking light. Stooping the form bend down and looked closely at the icons and writing next to the name.
Then with one swift move the forms fist lashed out and smashed the panel on which the light winked. There where a few sparks from broken psionic circuitry and then the panel was dead. Taking away its tiny bit of illumination. To itself in the utter darkness the from said.
"So one still remains, an oversight but one that I can resolve"
There was another bright flash, and then again the falling city in space was utterly lifeless.
Walking through the court, the Elf King's hair shifts from it's normal pale blonde to a rose wine in color, while his skin goes from it's usual jade coloration to a more forest green.
Upon the warm greeting from the Dandelion King, Lir smiles broadly "Indeed, tis I! Though I have been gone from the Summer Courts for more than a hundred hundred years, it is good to be among friends and family once again. However, I hear this is not the best of times."
The King of Dandelions calls out, "That is unfortunately the case. Come, let us talk elsewhere." He stands up and gestures behind him at the throne, which is revealed to be formed of living branches. They curl backward to show a doorway. Stepping through the doorway leads the group to a wide balcony overlooking the landscape. It is day the fey realms, and the verdant forests are a lush green. All manner of beasts amble about, many with features not of this world, and a few that are entirely new to the party. However, a ways out the forest gives way to barren, rugged hills covered in dry and withered grass. The King of Dandelions gestures to the landscape and says, "There, as you can see, are the border regions between the two courts, with the Pretender's barrow at the center of them. Now, as I am sure Aerach has told you, the Pretender's forces have been sighted in those very borderlands. Before you go storming the barrow, destroying its denizens and ending the Pretender once and for all. It is not that simple. If you were sighted in the border reigons, especially near the barrow, the Unseelie court would take that as an act of aggression or all out war. That would be bad for all of us. What I first need you to do is to go to the court of the Unseelie queen, Morrigain, and speak to her. Try to get her to allow you entrance to the barrow, and if possible, her assistance in moving on it. I can transport you to about a day's journey from Morrigain's court, but you must travel yourself the rest of the way."
"What is this Morrigain like?"
She followed, watching those around her, She needed more current information. she did not know this place or how it worked.
She psicystal said to her
::"When dealing with the unknown, observation is your defence"::
So she skimmed the minds around her, seeking ones unguarded, ones she could slip in unnoticed and out again, pulling bits of information from surface thoughts. She did not do this to the ones she had come with, or the king. But those who she could. When she found one she slipped in, searched then out again fast. The kinds of fey that moved about, their clothing, the types of dance, their culture, events. Harvesting information where she could. She started to build up a picture of this place and how it worked.
Then the thrown and another gateway. She followed but said nothing.
With her investigators mind she went over the information she had collected to find out about.
Then she studded the king.