Many of the beast-men fade away while Theo intimidates them.
When Unity ask "Is your law just?" the Ape-man replies, "Their law. Is their law just, or is their law just for us?"
The Sayer-of-the-law waves angrily at him and he retreats into the shadows.
When Unity ask about the circle a few murmurs from the shadows reply "To the circle!"
"The circle is where we meet," says the Sayer-of-the-Law. "Where we meet and say the law. Their law."
He retreats into the shadows as well.
Nissa calls out to the Sayer. “Why would you say their law?”
"Because they are the Masters. I am the Sayer-of-the-Law, but they are the givers of the law. Theirs is the House of Pain." Before he disappears into the tropical forest completely, he adds, "If the Masters are also under the law, bring them to the Circle."
He leaves the party with a mutilated puma. Prendick has run off somewhere, along with the other survivor of the Lady Vain. Montgomery is passed out and Moreau is unconscious.
In the book, these two 'Masters' are both eventually killed by the things they created. That could still happen.
The story has changed though. It's gone off plot. You're here. You've added to it and changed it. The tone remains one of darkness and horror matched by a fearful awe of science, but the story is different now.
It shouldn't be too long before the Canonites show up, looking for Moore and his Fictionaut revolutionaries.
Unity watch the beast-men retreat uncertainly. On the one paw, the 'law' that Moreau had taught them was most certainly *not* just in their opinion. On the other... these two had done much harm, and who were they to say they should not be punished by those they had harmed? Perhaps it would be best to just leave now, and let this story play out how it will... but at the same time, it feels wrong to leave them without making one more attempt to teach them.
They look around. "Where are Zellgato and Henri?" they ask, not wanting to make a decision only to find they had missed something important.
Nissa turns to Unity. “Moreau dies in the story, but… didn’t you want to talk to him?” She whips out her wand. “If so, I suggest we take the conversation elsewhere.”
Moreau is still unconscious on the ground.
Lights in his house reveal the silhouettes of Henri and Zellgato operating on the puma.
Unity's sword thrums only when he approaches the house. Theo's thrums not at all.
"Yeah, Unity", Theo agrees. "We'll keep Moreau alive long enough to get any intel you want out of him. As I said: this is your play. We'll do it however you like."
Nissa eyes the sword, which has been thrumming a lot. “Or maybe your sword has the answers.” She doesn’t ask why they’ve been ignoring their sword all this time. “I don’t think we can stay in this world long. So if your sword wants you to go in the House of Pain, I suggest you do it now—and that we all stay together in case I need to wander us outta here.”
She points to the unconscious Moreau. “—including him.. Maybe”
"It's not *this* Moreau we need to talk to, but the one that likely lies beyond the portal that mirror seems to contain," Unity say, still gazing where the beast-men went. "Perhaps it is time to simply be on our way, as much as it feels wrong to leave this story unfinished."
Nissa admits, “I mighta got caught up in trying to fix things for the beastmen. That mirror…” She flies toward it. “We came here for a purpose. Can the sword or chalice tell us how to access the portal?”
"The cannonites will arrive soon enough, with the amount of disruption we have here. Likely we won't want to be here..Whether we finish this surgery or not." Zellgato will call out to Nissa as he has a variety of blood and tools scattered.
The Olympian unhooks The Chalice from his belt. "Damn. And I really wanted to hang out with the Beast men, too. I'll find some water."
It's easy to find water. You're on an island.
It's getting late, but, while getting water, Theo thinks he caught a glimpse of ships anchored offshore. Multiple ones.
The surgery goes without complications. The patient will wake with horrible pain, but the first step of tranforming her paws into feet has been undone. She will probably walk again, and like a puma not a person.
Nissa is squeamish about the surgery. But it seems to have been a success. She answers to Z’s call.
Unity are glad to see that Zellgato and Henri have saved the puma... though they rather doubt she'd adapt well to living on this island, so unlike her natural territory and with who-knows-what for prey... perhaps it is best that the story will reset.
Once they have finished the surgery, Unity draw the Sword of Truth with one paw, rear up, and tap the tip to the buzzing mirror.
The mirror parts like a rippling pool of water. As it is mounted on the ceiling above the operating table, you'll have to climb up through it if you intend to exit that way.
The Olympian looks up. "Anyone need a boost?"
Nissa can fly in, but she waits until others are able to reach the portal before entering. It may even be wise to sit on a shoulder to ensure she won’t be separated (fourth dimensionally).
Offshore, a dozen Canonite warships cram cross-genre canons full of anachronistic shrapnel and prepare to bombard the island should it come to that.
In the forest, the beast-men begin to return to their animal nature, despite the intentions and interventions of Moreau and science.
In the surgery, the mirror's silvery surface becomes a sky with clouds seen through the surface of the water. Take a deep breath and plunge upwards into another world.
"GERONIMO!!" The godling exclaims as he ups into the blue-skyed portal.
Giving a sigh, and packing up his gear, before patting his patient on the head briefly."Up to you now." He climbs up and hops up attempting to clear the length enough.
Unity stretch out, silently offering their body as a platform for any who might have difficulty getting through the portal. Once everyone else has gone through, they crouch, then leap through themself.
”Hold on, Unity, I’ll take that boost.” Henri holds out a hand for Nissa and, cradling her in both hands (fire resistance!), he accelerates up and through the portal.
The heroes emerge in a sunny, warm, luscious green, slightly tropical environment. While it is sunny, you cannot see the sun. The sky is slightly cloudy and the light is diffused.
You are in, or on the side of, or above, a small pond. The mirror beneath you is gone, but if you peer into the water below, you can barely see in the shimmering pool the story world and Moreau's monstrous surgery.
The luscious rolling fields continue out in all directions.
You're somewhere else.
Let's hope this Doctor Moreau isn't anything like the last one.
After drinking from The Chalice, Theo comments, "Okay. We're on a different Island of Doctor Moreau. This one's High-tech and in space!"
”Perhaps this world’s tech was bleeding over into the one we just left, then. That could explain the feats he was accomplishing with his apparent level of available technology. Makes me wonder where he got the mirror. And what weaponry they might have here - probably not a revolver.”
"Just as Moore told us. Perhaps we should have questioned more thoroughly just how he knew so much," Unity muse. "Too late for that now. But we *are* here to speak with Doctor Moreau, in spite of danger and difficulty. Somehow our creator managed to learn from him... though perhaps that does not mean he *spoke* with him. To begin, exploring our surroundings might be best."
They look around for any signs of something of interest in the area.
Zellgato coughs up little of water and scrapes his tongue with his teeth to rid the taste of it. Climbing out the side onto the shore, narrowing his eyes at the sun popping out asmall bottle of sun lotion applying to his open skin-under his mask, and rubbing into his scalp through his hair. Offering it to the others, "I forgot to apply sunscreen on that damn island."
"Revolvers are respectible weapon, My captain was excquisite with it. It is the base of my revolver rifle."
Zellgato opts to take a different method of exploration... He clicks on his wifi on his public use comms. Seeing if there are any wifi-like connections to pull info from.
”Fair enough. I was thinking of weapons that deal damage with beams of energy rather than projectiles. Either can kill just fine, but the defenses you want to employ are different.”
Nissa flutters from Henri’s hands, now that they are safe. When the talk of guns comes up, she says, “I used to subdue with a nonlethal flamethrower.” She still fondly remembers shooting Agent Portly in the face with that gun.
She considers Zellgato’s need for sunscreen. “Haha… I used to model for the top two brands, but I never actually needed sunscreen.” Noting the artificial light, she adds, “It looks like no one needs that here.”
She wonders if this Dr. Moreau is from a story, or did he influence the one in the book they were just in. Is this space station familiar at all? Did it inspire any sci-fi she’s read or seen…?
Nissa flutters from Henri’s hands, now that they are safe. When the talk of guns comes up, she says, “I used to subdue with a nonlethal flamethrower.” She still fondly remembers shooting Agent Portly in the face with that gun.
She considers Zellgato’s need for sunscreen. “Haha… I used to model for the top two brands, but I never actually needed sunscreen.” Noting the artificial light, she adds, “It looks like no one needs that here.”
She wonders if this Dr. Moreau is from a story, or did he influence the one in the book they were just in. Is this space station familiar at all? Did it inspire any sci-fi she’s read or seen…?
[dice=Culture]d20+12+d6
Nissa knows much of what Moore told her about how these fictional subdimensions work. They are birthed when a person with a great imagination makes contact psychically with individual minds in another timeline and tries to interpret what they are feeling and seeing. This results in a psychic imprint so strong that a copy of that world grows in the Shuffle. Moore once explained that the psychic imprint barely becomes self-sustaining unless fan-fiction and a fandom 'triangulate all cultural nexus points' but he said that the Canonites denied this and started getting political at that point.
”Fair enough. I was thinking of weapons that deal damage with beams of energy rather than projectiles. Either can kill just fine, but the defenses you want to employ are different.”
"Given this is Dr. Moreau we're talking about, we might need to worry more about teeth and claws."
"Just as Moore told us. Perhaps we should have questioned more thoroughly just how he knew so much," Unity muse. "Too late for that now. But we *are* here to speak with Doctor Moreau, in spite of danger and difficulty. Somehow our creator managed to learn from him... though perhaps that does not mean he *spoke* with him. To begin, exploring our surroundings might be best."
They look around for any signs of something of interest in the area.
[dice=Perception]1d20+11
Unity smell two human males.
Everyone soon sees them.
A male with human-lupine features flees from a male with human-leo features. The red-furred fox-man is sprinting and darting. He sees the party and veers, getting only as close as 20 feet.
The lion-man is only a couple doze feet behind his prey. He also sees you and mostly ignores you. He focuses on the fleeing fox.
They are both wearing khaki shorts with many pockets.
”Fair enough. I was thinking of weapons that deal damage with beams of energy rather than projectiles. Either can kill just fine, but the defenses you want to employ are different.”"Given this is Dr. Moreau we're talking about, we might need to worry more about teeth and claws."
The fox-man and the lion-man did have teeth and claws. They also had fur.
They smelled mostly human though, unlike the beast-men on the Island who smelled like the species Moreau made them from.
The lion-man and the fox-man are running past. They are ignoring you. You have a chance to interrupt this chase if you want.
Nissa tries to keep up, flying alongside the runners. “Emergency or exercise?” she asks.
She smiles sweetly, hoping her appearance will draw attention.
The fox-man turns to answer and the lion-man pounces, bringing him to the ground. They roll around a bit on the ground and come up giggling.
They pause and look at the party, some of who are wetter than others.
"Fantasy?" fox-man asks the lion. The lion shrugs and nods in reply.
"Are you supposed to be here?" the Fox-man asks. "Are you sure you haven't wandered into the wrong sector?"
"Oh, we almost certainly have," Unity reply, trotting up closer to the pair. "We don't suppose you could give us directions?"
The beastmen’s playfulness comes as a pleasant surprise. Nissa finds herself laughing with them.
“‘Fantasy’ …there’s a compliment I haven’t heard in a while! We’re actually looking for someone.” She’s not sure if she’s supposed to use names, but then, asking directions means the destination can’t be a secret. “First name: ‘Doctor.’”
The Lion says, "Everybody's first name is Doctor around here. Even I'm a doctor."
"PhDs don't count," replied the Fox with a raised eyebrow and a sly grin.
The Lion points towards a river, "Follow the river until you hit a junction; you'll see a map there. This is Tropical Forest Dome 1. We'll be locked down in two weeks and we're enculturing now, so we aren't supposed to talk to outsiders."
He assumes you know what this means. They back up a bit, ready to continue their play without you.
"Thank you," Unity say, nodding at the pair. They look to their companions. "Shall we, then?"
Unless anyone says otherwise, they trot in the indicated direction.
Zellgato simply nods, and mentally cataloging the verbage used for later. "Let us not be locked up for two weeks."
Zellgato takes another moment to try and memorize this location in case they have to return, before he goes along with the others
Zellgato thinks Zellgato thought.
Theo notices Zellgato thinking, and begins to wonder what Zellgato is thinking.
"Yeah. Let's follow that river."
Nissa thanks the lion-man, addressing him as “Doctor?” and the fox-man as “Doctor.”
She then flutters over the river. She wants to magical-girl on a swimsuit, though she stifles that urge. She recalls her dip with Artemis and the nymphs, which is a beautiful memory… but she never really talked about that since Prince Fishdicks murdered the doctor and nurse while she was off having fun. And now the guilt has soured her mood. The beauty of the river has lost its appeal. Nissa no longer wants to swim in it. She flies along the bank, far enough from the water that she won’t get a glimpse of her reflection.
The world is beautiful and full of natural wonder, but it looks very unnatural. There is repetitiveness, particularly in the rolling fields beneath you and the twists and turns of the river. No matter how many times you look at the sky and no matter where the clouds are, the sun is always behind them and the world is always lit by a shadowless, diffused light.
You see other men and women playing, all of them with very clear animal features. Many of them borrow features from great cats, wolves, foxes, bears, etc. Most are covered in fur and they all wear identical shorts and little else. None of them interact with you.
Eventually, you come to a wall covered with some kind of display-screen that projects a natural environment. You would hardly know it was a wall if it didn’t have a door in it. The door is marked “exit”.
Henri looks back the way they've come. "We must have missed the map." After a moment of realization, he adds, "Or Doctor Leo just wanted to get rid of us."
Nissa wonders, “If Dr. Lion-Guy was honest, the exit takes us to the map room, or an area between domes. I could pass through the wall and make sure it’s not a trick to jettison us into space. But first…”
She flutters over to a cat-woman. “What, specifically, is beyond that exit door?”
Unity think back to what Moore said about Moreau as they walk. No doubt this 'enculturing' is preparing somehow for being dropped into another prehistoric world. They're somewhat surprised to feel... *conflicted*. Not that they think there's anything *right* with what Moreau is doing, but... seeing these people here, it's hard to argue that they shouldn't exist, just that they shouldn't be getting dropped into prehistoric worlds to displace normal humanity.
But they rather doubt they'd be able to convince Dr. Moreau of that.
...could their creator have wanted them to do something about Moreau? ...was it possible Moreau was actually their creator? Perhaps an earlier or later version of Moreau, given how time works in the Shuffle?
They couldn't even guess how unlikely those ideas were, but whatever the case, the only way to find out just how he is connected to their creator is to find him.
"This is probably what he meant by a 'junction'," they say aloud when the others start speculating on the exit.
”These folks seem more like people modified with animal features than animals modified with human features…”
Nissa wonders, “If Dr. Lion-Guy was honest, the exit takes us to the map room, or an area between domes. I could pass through the wall and make sure it’s not a trick to jettison us into space. But first…”
She flutters over to a cat-woman. “What, specifically, is beyond that exit door?”
[dice=Diplo]d20+16+d6
"Didn't you come in that way?" asks the tigress, but she answers anyway. "That's the hall to the hexagonal room with six doors to different zones and a map of the station."