Theo turns around to locate the voice and sees Verve on a perch. "Oh hey, Verve-ronica! Practicing your brooding, I see. Very Important. I hear they don't allow you to have a boy sidekick unless you get the brooding down." The godling then nods over to the dane warrior. "Unferth."
For a moment, as the drink makes his head swim, he can see Unferth's code leaking out into the world around him. Information leaks out of him and into the night. Looking at his own hand, Theo sees the same thing; code drifts off of him and he too exists as code, although his code seems a thousand times deeper and more substantial than Unferth's.
Looking around, Theo sees this place for what it is, a back-up copy of a mythic reality. A sub-dimensional pocket limited in time and space to the events of 'Beowulf.' He also knows, intuitively, that the exit is the place he entered.
About 30 seconds later, Theo feels completely clear headed and Unferth ceases to leak code. The world is almost as real as it was before he downed the mead.
Nissa hangs onto every word that Valerie says.
“The Groundhog’s Day curse! Brilliant!” she practically squees to her shieldmaiden friends.
"Whoa." Theo's awareness comes back to a more grounded reality. "Yep. Uh, I think it's time for a group huddle", The Olympian says, looking back up to Verve.
Charles shakes his head. "I don't think it started with PhDestruction. And I don't know how to track him. Maybe when we get back that one scientist will have some ideas? Though... maybe they might not be the best to trust about such things."
"Are you okay? asked Verve, who scampered down and went over to Theo.
"It appears Theo has consulted with the oracular cup. Let us see if my theory is right or wrong." Valerie approaches Theo.
“The what-acular cup?” Nissa doesn’t expect an answer. Val knows stuff. She turns to the shieldmaidens and says, “It’s been a real treat getting to know ya, y’know? But I think you two should hang here and party.”
Nissa smiles sweetly at the Danish girls. They could be her BFFs if she’s stuck in this world forever. Or Val may be saying Theo found the way back to Boston (or Rio?) and she won’t even get to say a proper goodbye. The finality gives Nissa a tearful feeling—
—but she manages to control it, putting on that fake, plastic smile and maintaining it until she reduces herself to a glowing mote!
Fluttering at Val’s side, Nissa says, “I think I could enjoy life here, but… are you saying this cup’s our ticket home? Do I need to fly inside your brain again?”
The other outworlders gather around as Theo explains what he saw in his chalice vision. "It seems there was something of truth in what Grendel's Mommy said about cycles. The impression I got was this whole..world(?) is one big wrinkle in time based on preserving the Beowolf Saga. Now we know why Grendel's head was rotting so fast: it was being broken down to eventually respawn like a video game. It's entirely possible whatever we do here ultimately doesn't matter: it will eventually reset. But the strongest feeling I got was the way we all came here was the way we all get back", Theo thought out loud for a moment. "I guess my way back is laying back down on the viking boats. I'm not even sure our hard-won gold will make it back with us, which sucks!"
"What makes you think your alcohol-based vision wasn't simply just a hallucination?"
"Other than the fact that the queen told me she once drank from the same chalice and had a similar vision concerning multiple cycles. That and no one was naked", added the godling.
"Fair enough. You've had alot to drink, so I figured I'd ask."
Valerie raise her eyebrows in surprise. "Interesting. I have another theory then. Which, mind, may also be wrong. I come from a dimension where the purpose is to receive and record the record of all things that are, were, and ever will be." She says this in tone of voice one describes going to the grocery store. It's all she ever used to know, so it doesn't seem that spectacular to her. "Having been exiled from the Celestial Database, I am in theory disconnected to that dimension, but I still contain a good bit of data that I downloaded while serving my original purpose. I have also, as observed by BT, been able to enter update states that activate something resembling my original data upload/download mode, which according to the scientists, opens a microportal. Which of course is how we triggered our travel. I wonder if we have actually traveled to a subdimensional data stream generated by the Celestial Bronze cams within my brain. Although if this is the case, I am not sure how I am both here and the source of the data stream." She frowns.
"But if we wish to leave, I could try to update again and we could repeat the incident which brought us here. Of course, that could also cause us all to explode or implode in a non-Nissa-like and far more harmful way."
"What is better: dying in an instant or being stuck in a place where there's no penicillin?"
"Or worse," Theo added, "fighting Grendel and his mom on repeat forever."
"Perhaps it means we have to repeat the incident where we arrived?" Charles suggests. "Your vision, that is. And Valerie, I doubt that this is some sort of... your data... thing, because then how would PhDestruction have been here?"
Nissa says, “Shall we head down to where all the fallen equipment is, then?
“I kinda feel bad if this world’s on infinite loop… but if this means we’re dealing with fictional people, I guess that would explain things. Like, you hear about children being eaten, but not any of the regular sad stuff. I bet they don’t need penicillin here because who keels over from a sneeze in a story?”
Nissa looks out in the direction of what is apparently both start-point and destination of this journey.
In a remorseful tone, she says, “I hate to leave without saying goodbye! I guess they’re just characters, but… I find them so… endearing! And at the same time, I can’t help but wonder—how many real people died by Grendel’s hand?” And on that morbid note, Nissa looks ready to head down that hill!
"Agreed, we should get out of here. Theo, you come with us. We have a ship." as Verve says the latter, she opens a pouch and a tiny ship comes floating out. it then trails along behind her as she walks towards their point of ingress into this....whatever this was. Verve thought to herself.
It seems Verve’s powers allow her to sense what cannot be seen by the naked eye.
Nissa becomes a mote, and even then it’s only the glint of her luminous body that sees the ship. She dares not touch it, fearing she would crush the itty-bitty thing.
“Verve, do you think you’ll be able to aim me at the sweet spot? I didn’t think to check if that cone thing is there.
“Val, if you point out the spot to me—where our nerdy friends at the lab places the tip of the cone—I can see if there’s a mark that only my eye can find.”
"So", Theo asked, looking quickly among the fellow outsiders, "should we at least try to go back in the hall and load up the gold?"
"What do you think you can buy that you don't already have?"
"I mean sure; I've got some money from endorsements and special events", Theo shrugged at Verve, "but we earned that gold! Hades, Charles almost died! He should get his share, at least! Who says you can't save the world or worlds, and not get monetarily compensated?"
"Because saving others should be able saving others, not enriching yourself."
"I don't think there's any reason not to say goodbye, at least," Charles interjects. "And I think in this culture it'd be rude to leave gifts given like this...?"
He looks at Valerie for confirmation.
"I suppose you're right Charles. We should at least say goodbye." Verve stowed the ship back in her belt pouch and headed towards the king's longhouse.
Nissa says, “I got nothing against getting paid, honestly—girl’s gotta eat, and then there’s ammo and upgrades… but yeah, more than anything I just wanna say a proper goodbye!”
Just as you turn back towards the hall dozens of people come pouring out of it. You recognize Wulfgar and Ulfgar and some of the other thanes at the front. They're yelling "to the horses!" but they're laughing. They're wearing bands of gold around their arms that weren't there before. It seems Hrothgar has rewarded his thanes for returning.
Others are yelling about a race. It appears the various thanes and folk-chiefs have decided a horse race up and down the hill is in order. No one is asking you to participate but they are certainly inviting you to watch. No one is attempting to race any of your gift horses.
Some of the men are trying to wager the gold King Hrothgar has just given them, proposing bets on the outcomes of one-on-one races between different riders.
"Well, at least we are leaving them better than we found them", the godling said to the others.
Nissa shrugs it off. ]b] “If the king gave away our gold,well… one less thing.”[/b]
Gold or no gold, Nissa proceeds to the hall as long as the others do.
Valerie nods at Charles. "Refusing this generosity and acknowledgement of our deed would be tricky. I would suggest diplomacy if one chooses to leave the gifts behind, emphasizing ascetic virtue or some such. That said, there is also no harm in taking it, so long as you have a place to put it."
If they go, she does quietly re-offer the horse back to Hrothgar. As a 'Norn' she is not used to interacting with such beasts, and a fine creature deserves a well-trained rider.
When you return to Hrothgar and the gifts he intends to give you, the pile has grown in your absence. Hrothgar is elbow-deep in a chest of gold looking for a specific armband for a nervous young man.
King Hrothgar sees you and abandons his search, throws the first band of gold he finds at the young man, and greets you again loudly.
He's clearly drunk and very happy and feeling generous.
If and when you want help, the recently rewarded young man will help you carry your gold down to the shore and the strange disk on which you arrived (and Theo's Greek? boat).
If you do decide to refuse some gold, Hrothgar would let you get away with taking ONLY one chest acknowledge that more gold could be too much to carry. Taking any less would require a Diplomacy check.
Nissa whispers to her peers, “I say let’s not refuse the gift then. Being a hero’s wicked expensive, and we know the only way they’d even need the money’s if our deed ends the loop—and even then, the Danes are way better off now than ever, and not exactly hurting for cash.”
To king, she says, “The horse is too big to me, and won’t survive the trip. If I may, I’d like to give mine to my shieldmaiden friends. There are eight horses, so like, if you end up with a spare, maybe they can each have one.
“Otherwise, gotta share, girls!” she adds, winking at the shieldmaidens she befriended.
"We might as well take the gold," Charles quietly agrees.
He has no idea what he'd *do* with so much money, to be frank... though he doesn't really have a clue what the price of gold is nowadays and... would it even... still exist after they took it? But PhDestruction had apparently thought the DNA would still exist...
This whole thing just seemed wrong, still.
The shieldmaidens are ecstatic about the gift horses and insist on looking in their mouths. They assure Nissa the horses have very fine teeth. They ride the horses in and out of the hall through the wide doors.
The gold is carried down to the shore. You pass the rune stone on your way. The inscription reads "King Hrothgar erected this stone to honor his father King Halfdane and mother Thora." The rune stone has been vandalized and smeared with muck or worse, probably by Grendel.
Nissa giddily watches the girls race around—though after three laps of that, she becomes a Stellar Mote so she can fly well above the reach of those rapidly pounding hooves!
She imagines the pair are such tight friends, they likely share a single basket when collecting eggs.
Theo gently puts a chest of gold in the center of the boat, noting how far
the ship dips in the water. The godling thanks the King, and gifts his house to a poor farmer.
Valerie thanks the vikings for their hospitality. When, later, they pass the rune stone, she uses token spell to clean it up.
The generosity of the heroes attracts more people to their side. A crowd begins to gather as the heroes prepare to depart.
The strange device from the Boston Theoretical 'Flight Deck' room still sits on the shore. Theo's boat is on the shore where some of Haward's underlings in the coast guard have kept an eye on it.
Nissa forgot about getting a house. That, she offers to shieldmaidens as well. She says, “I’d like it to be for all shieldmaidens—not like it’s big enough for so many girls. But I mean I want it to be a place where you can have a girls’ night, like part retreat, part health spa.”
To the two girls that she knows best, Nissa says, “Maybe you two can run the place, and…” Turning to the queen, Nissa asks, “…would you object to helping the girls, like, in an advisory matriarchal way? I’m thinking financial tips so the upkeep is affordable and sustainable, and plus you’re obviously the go-to gal when it comes to health and beauty.
“I trust the shieldmaidens’ lives will never grow soft or dull under your tutelage.”
"Please get us back in the ship Nissa." asks Verve "I'd like to head back home now."
“You got it!, Verve! Everyone else, please stand back!”
Nissa flies to Verve’s pouch, first as a Stellar Mote—
“Gimme ten seconds. After that, assume I’m aboard The Bombshell and it’s up to you and Val to do the rest!”
Nissa then becomes so small no one can see her at all. But she can see the ship. It fits into the palm of her hand, then is the size of a body pillow to her, and finally big enough for her to fit inside…!
Once Nissa was back in the ship, Verve turned to Valerie and said "Ready?"
When Valerie signaled she was, Verve used her telekinesis to fling the ship as fast as possible, doing her best to recreate what was done during the initial experiment.
From somewhere in the depths of her memory, the opening to a 20th century TV show came into Verve's mind, unbidden:
My name is John Criton,an astronaut. Radiation wave hit and I got shot through a wormhole...
With everything packed up on the boat, Theo pushes off from shore, then quickly get in, to applause and celebration. Then a horrifiying thought pierced the godling's mind. Oh crap! What if it's like The Langoliers, and I can only get back under the same conditions, which was passed out.
The Olympian carefully settles down in the boat and concentrates on falling asleep.
"Okay. I will attempt to update. I am not exactly sure what I look like but I presume I will begin to glow as my power source goes into higher drive. I will likely go blank faced."
As opposed to of course her generally much more expressive face. Good luck, everyone.
"But do not initiate unless you are certain the update has commenced."
Valerie taps into her recall reservoirs...
When Valerie stands in location on the disk from the flight deck and taps her recall reservoirs, the tiniest of transdimensional gateways opens inside her android skull. The look in her eyes told Verve she was in that zone again, just like in the lab.
Nissa, inside the device, finds the same atom-thin chain locking itself onto the ship and ready to be towed behind it until the ship pierced the transD gateway.
When Verve uses her pulse to fire the tiniest of rocket ships up the tube, Nissa soon finds herself flying into Valerie's skull again, towing the atom-thin chain behind her.
Theo may be trying to sleep, but the burst of light that follows quickly after makes it difficult. The transdimensional gate encompasses the disk and the visitors, but then snakes out and grabs Theo and the boat as well.
Nissa hopes to find her nerdy colleagues—Dr. Preston in particular—safe and sound and hopefully at work. It occurs to her she and the others may return to Boston at night or on a weekend. It might even be a different day. Maybe February 2, 2320?
Valerie did mention Groundhog’s Day, like, an hour or so ago…
“Can you hear me in your head, Val. It’s so beautiful in here! You have such a beautiful mind!”
Theo's eyes open as a burst of light encompasses the modest craft. Holding on tightly to the sides of the boat, the godling is lurched forward as reality shimmers and changes in front of him. The Olympian quickly notices the boat is no longer on any body of water, but sliding on a office floor; knocking over several tables and chairs to eventually rest.
"Woooooo!" Theo screams with his arms up, as if he just rode the greatest water log ride at an amusement park. "WHAT IS UP, MUTHER F#<KERS!!!"