"I had one of those flameless cigar lighters but I'm not sure what it turned into," Terri says. "I'm kind of afraid to keep checking, to be honest."
After Charlie finishes reading from the manuscript, a portal opens next to his legs. It's not quite an inapposite gate, and neither does it look like it connects directly to the Strange. However, anyone looking directly at the portal does start to feel a little queasy.
After a few moments, one leg appears from the portal, brightly hued as though covered in jewels. Another leg. A third leg that doesn't look quite right. As you all watch, something that can best be described as a jewel-encrusted cat with some amount of legs and a tentacle for a tail appears. It winds itself around Charlie's leg, looking up at him and… meowing in R'lyehian?
A new master? Well well well. What can I do for you? Charlie knows it's speaking in R'lyehian, but he can understand it as clearly as he understands his companions. It's also clear to Charlie that no one else can understand it.
Its voice is oddly silky and pleasant, and genderless. Sometimes, both genders, if he listens closely enough.
Once your group is ready to enter the crypt, it doesn't take long to descend the stairs, though the way is almost impossible to navigate without breaking an ankle if not for lit torches or under-eye paint. The ceilings are 17 feet high, and the walls are thickly carved with all manner of disturbing imagery, featuring skulls, demonic-looking wolf/human hybrids, demonic entities, dragons, spirits, and clashing armies.
A pool in the center of the chamber contains an inky black fluid that smells like rotting fish.
"My scepter, my scepter, where is she?" a melodic, feminine voice comes from somewhere in the darkness, and in her voice is anguish.
I told him he has to wait, and he pouted, but consoled himself by reminding the both of us that I'm also doing his bidding. But I let him know about the horny dwarves and I think he's content to wait to hear the rest of the story from you.
Ardeyn is a beautiful place. I figure if I ever get a chance to retire, it'll be somewhere in the Green of Ardeyn, in a tree house along with the fey and elves that live there. I'm glad you got a chance to see it.
He's getting all the jello he can stomach, don't worry. He's likely to be fat by the time you all see him again
Oh! Terri. I see. Excellent, well, I don't know if it helps, but I don't know many people who translate into different genders, and I have a lot of questions that probably aren't wholly appropriate to ask while you're having a meltdown
Okay, I'll ask one. Have you tried to pee yet? That'll be a fun one to add to the 'new experiences' list
Also, I'm too old for TMI, love. I lost my ability to be ashamed of my behavior or worried about what I say ages ago
which means you'll have to tell me if I offend
but now I'm curious, are you like a swarthy Helga type now? Or is Terri a petite thing who tried to drink as much as Terry might have been able to?
a jewel-encrusted cat with some amount of legs and a tentacle for a tail appears. It winds itself around Charlie's leg, looking up at him and… meowing in R'lyehian?
Kari decidedly stops watching once the rift opens, looking greener, but she looks back at the off-meow, a look on her face for something pug-ugly enough to be cute.. ish. "Does... Do they have a name?" As she waves at the kinda-cat. The tail is the only thing Kari seems uncertain on.
almost impossible to navigate without breaking an ankle if not for lit torches or under-eye paint
Kari stays near to Terri and her torch, although she pulls out a fan, seeing if the techno-fibers will glow with light to have her own light source, just in case.
"My scepter, my scepter, where is she?" a melodic, feminine voice comes from somewhere in the darkness, and in her voice is anguish.
"Qephilim stole something from," she motions to the creepy imagery, "the tombs occupant?"
'Do lots of agents retire here? The dwarves mentioned some.'
When Kari spends time using the fan as a fan, rather than as a weapon, veins of faint bioluminescence glow in a delicate framework in the fabric. With enough movement and speed, her fans glow like a very dull torch. Useful in emergency situations, but hard to sustain for long periods of time.
Mirror convo:
I've known several Agents who have retired in Ardeyn and Ruk, yes. Usually Agents who aren't native to those recursions and want to sort of... get lost in the fantasy of it all.
Charlie speaks to the thing in similar blasphemous syllables.
Kari decidedly stops watching once the rift opens, looking greener, but she looks back at the off-meow, a look on her face for something pug-ugly enough to be cute.. ish. "Does... Do they have a name?" As she waves at the kinda-cat. The tail is the only thing Kari seems uncertain on.
"I haven't the foggiest," Charlie says. His words are marred by the R'lyehan he was speaking, the accent carrying over to the English. By the end of the sentence, it's mostly gone.
Charlie rummages in his pack and removes his flashlight, probably similarly transformed as Terri's. Once light has been achieved, Charlie is going to look around at walls. Tombs always have things carved into walls.
Terri almost stops herself from saying, "kitty," but at least she says it quietly.
Inside the crypt, Terri shivers at the pool and its smell.
"That sounds plausible," Terri says. "We have questions. And we--" she glances up at her torch "--brought lights. Maybe we can find some answers that way."
Yes, exactly. The peeing went fine when I stopped trying to think about what I was doing and just ... let my body what it knew how to do.
That could get me into trouble. Gotta be careful.
Extra true for these pants, the loops and they're complicated.
Terri is
I
I am shorter than I used to be. Hands are smaller. Colors are brighter here on Ardeyn.
Everyone warned me about the beer and that I will regret it tomorrow. I had two mugs of stout, so we see tomorrow.
While Charlie examines the walls, Brian takes a gander at the inky black pool. He is careful not to get too close lest he fall in. But he is looking at it.
When Brian looks into the pool, he sees that the waters ripple as though blown by an invisible wind. He also gets a glimpse of something shiny.
That's it? Can you at least ask your companions if they'd consider worshipping the Deep Ones?
The familiar takes off into the dark, its jewel-skin glowing in the light of your torches, but not beyond it.
You'll probably be fine
Wait, you're not a kid, right? I mean, even if your birth body was of appropriate age, I can't be asking a kid if they've peed yet. That's an arrestable offense in most recursions
I think you'll find that by tomorrow, even without a hangover, you'll feel more comfortable in your new skin, if you're still wearing it
Enjoy the knockers while you've got them. Unless you're a kid, then please, for the love of law, don't respond to that
Terri almost stops herself from saying, "kitty," but at least she says it quietly.
"What did you bring kitty here to do, Charlie?" Kari asks, curious as always.
['b]"Careful, Brian. If any of that splashes on you, you'll never get the smell out of your clothes."['/b]
Edit post preview: No way in heck Kari noticed that there was *anything* even the slightest bit wrong so request removed. If you would like to do something fun with the 1, I'm totally OK with that.
There is a long break, maybe long enough that its one might think Kari was distracted away from the conversation. 'I don't think I could do that. Everything here is real. Just because its a different kind of real than what I grew up in doesn't make it a fantasy, just fantastical.'
"What did you bring kitty here to do, Charlie?" Kari asks, curious as always.
"Scout. Early warning system. Atmosphere."
"Scout. Early warning system. Atmosphere."
Terri look down at the cat, and nods her head. "Good name," she says.
Terri starts humming something in a minor key as the torch shadows flicker across the wall carvings.
Um.
No.
Younger, maybe -- not a kid.
Good to hear it settles in. This thing where my body knows what to do but I don't yet doesn't really help.
Thanks.
"Hmm. Something shiny."
That's a great attitude to have. It will keep you grounded if you end up in a recursion where your translated body is very… different than your own. Good thoughts for warding against alienation.
Well hopefully I didn't make it worse. I tend to err on the side of good natured ribbing
If you need a reminder of who are later, let me know.
The last thing Abby sends is the name of a song and artist - Hold Onto Yourself by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
After Charlie and his new familiar exchange a few words in R'lyehian, it looks over the rest of your group. In its eyes, you can see alien stars. It opens its mouth to hiss something at Brian, Kari, and Terri, before turning around and using its one leg, three legs, five legs, one leg and tentacle tail to slink off into the darkness of the deeper parts of the crypt.
When Brian looks into the pool, he seems frozen to the spot for a few moments, unable to look away.
Brian sees the glint of something that can be pulled out of the pool, and, assuming he wants to… he's able to reach in and pull out a piece of something that looks like the headpiece of a scepter.
He also, for just a moment, sees a vision of his own death somewhere in the crypt
The crypt foyer is eerily silent, though your group can occasionally hear drips in the distance, as well as the continued anguished moans from someone moving room to room. She still sounds fairly far away.
A few minutes later, Charlie's familiar returns.
A sanctum of worship to the south, dark and demonic energy. To the east, reliquaries. Hallways of darkness. A woman crying, alone, going mad. Another descent into the darkness, at the far east, into the Undercrypt. Nothing patrols here. There are traps and secrets and treasures.
Charlie nods. "I have an idea of what it is down here. The crying is coming from the east, in the reliquaries. Keep an eye out for traps." He speaks to the cat again.
"So what is it?" Kari asks Charlie. "And to the reliquaries?"
"A crying woman." Charlie frowns. "Why, what does it sound like?"
"A crying woman." Kari agrees, "I just thought you had more of an insight from..." she motions to the walls, "maybe who she was or something." She grins, "I'm often wrong."
"Ahh!" gasps Brian as he pulls his attention away from the pool.
Gathering his wits, he says "There's something in the pool. Looks like the head of a scepter."
"Also," adds Brian, "avoid looking into the pool if you can help it. It's....unpleasant."
"Also," adds Brian, "avoid looking into the pool if you can help it. It's....unpleasant."
Kari totally starts over to the pool until Brian adds this at which point she backs away. "Like the specter the crying woman is looking for?"
She snaps her fingers, "Knew I should have grabbed the magnet. Do you think we can fish it out safely?" A pause, "Should we?"
Terri starts to walk toward the pool when Brian says something is shiny, only to stop when he says it's unpleasant.
"Do we want to talk to the woman first? I don't have any--"
Terri looks through her gear. "Huh," she pulls out a roll of duct tape, "this didn't change."
She tucks it away. "No hooks or coat hangers or anything like that."
Terri listens to the song quietly, three times, before putting her mirror away again.
"Scepter, not specter", replies Brian. "The head of a scepter, like a monarch would have."
"Scepter, not specter", replies Brian. "The head of a scepter, like a monarch would have."
"Scepter." Kari says, this time not missaying the word. "Point still stands that the voice was asking for her scepter, do we want to try to fish it out?"
Terri looks through her gear. "Huh," she pulls out a roll of duct tape, "this didn't change."
Kari lights up, "We could twist it into a hook, totally saw them do that on mythbusters."
"If we are going to retrieve it, let's be careful. It's protected. Just looking into the pool gave me visions of my death. Who knows what actually breaking the surface or taking something out will do."
Terri digs the tape back out. "Never was much for arts and crafts. Any of you?"
"I have this ACME magnet I got back at the Estate. It should pull it out. The question is, do we really want to?"
Brian looks to Charlie. "What do you think?"
Brian fishes out his magnet while waiting on Charlie's opinion.
"I have an idea," Charlie says. "Maybe we don't have to give the crying woman her scepter. We could instead make her think we did." To demonstrate, he holds out a hand. Starlight, like fireflies, rise from his palm, and soon a scepter is floating just above his outstretched palm. "It's not solid, but then neither is a ghost."
Kari looks at the duck tape, "Maybe a loop." She looks at the former priest, "was it laying on the bottom or at an an... Hey!" A big smile, "You grabbed the magnet." She tosses the unused roll to Terri as the group waits for Charlie to weigh in.
She grins, "Beautiful work. On to the specter with the ghostly scepter?"
"I like the illusion as a first step. We can always try for the real one later."
Terri tucks the duct tape away, rocking back and forth on her heels, bouncing slightly in place. "Onward," she says.
Brian gives Charlie as detailed a description he can of the scepter's head he saw in the inky pool, so Charlie can make a reasonable likeness.
Without dipping any hands into the inky waters, your group moves onward, the bejeweled Lovecraftian beast leading the way ahead of Charlie.
Once you leave the foyer, you come to a small area where three different hallways branch off into other directions. One path to the north, another continuing east, and the last to the south. Every now and again, your group hears the familiar muttering in R'lyehian to Charlie. For now, all of its legs appear to be tentacles.
The sanctum to the south. Treasures. Potential danger for the unclever.
It continues forward, eyes glinting with strange lights when it turns back to make sure Charlie is still following it.
If your group stays on the path heading east, you pass by two openings that lead to rooms of unknown depth and deep darkness. The air smells stale here, but there's something else cutting through the scent of dust. Something flowery.
The familiar stops in front of a third opening in the wall. You hear someone crying softly in the dark.
After what Brian saw in the basin, he's having a hard time giving a good description of the scepter piece he saw. If Charlie tries to recreate it as an illusion to fool the potential owner, he'll need to
"The sanctum is to the south," Charlie says. "Sounds like traps and treasure."
At the ghost, listens to Brian's somewhat garbled description and attempts to create the best one he can.
Kari barely blocks a sneeze at the flowery scent so out of place in the dank cyrpt. She peers down the eastern path, clearly waiting for the group but wanting to move, "Do you think the flowers is the qephilim or the specter?" She grins, a roguish grin, "Sneak up to see if we can see what's going on?" She asks with the eagerness of someone who plays rogues during adventures.
"What kind of treats does Scout eat?" Terri quietly asks Charlie. "And is it from one of those places you mentioned before, Innsmouth and Leng, or is it from a different one?"
"Sneak up to see if we can see what's going on?"
"Maybe Brian could," Terri says. "It's not so sneaky if I go in with a torch. Or if I break my ankle without one."
"What kind of treats does Scout eat?" Terri quietly asks Charlie. "And is it from one of those places you mentioned before, Innsmouth and Leng, or is it from a different one?"
"Saturn," Charlie says in response to the second question. Then, looking Terri in the eye. "Do not feed it. Do you understand me? That would be very, very bad." Charlie turns his attention back to talking with the ghost.
"Okay, let's go give her the scepter."
Anyone stepping into the chamber with their light up reveals a room with alcoves all over the walls where bodies look to be interred in stone caskets. Huddled in the corner is a creature totally unfamiliar to your eyes, but familiar to your translated bodies - a qephilim, one that was sent to the heavens, and should definitely not be here in front of you now.
She looks up at you when you enter, and stands to her full height - somewhere between seven and eight feet tall.
"Do you have my scepter? I lost it, you see, and I need it back." She says, matter-of-fact, before bursting into a fit of hysterical giggles. After the giggle tapers off, she cries "Thieves!" She makes no move to approach you, and doesn't necessarily seem hostile, either.
She is clearly the source of the flower-scent, and the scent of something like a library filled with old books.
Brian moves to the fore, between the rest of the party and the qephilim.
"Thieves?" Brian looks hurt at the accusation. "Madame, you malign us. We have simply found it for you."
The qephilim looks between Brian, and the illusion of a scepter that Charlie is holding.
"Liar." She hisses. "It looks the same. But it does not feel the same."
She bursts into tears again. "You would know if you touched it. And where is the other piece? I need both. I need it to be whole so I can just think clearly again."
"I'm a liar," Charlie says. Then hesitates, thinks, and pops the top on his Dr. Pep Mountain, pounding the whole can. "In fact, I am The Liar, him on the cards. You've seen my face and you've felt my work. I invent what's not there and make it true, but those who believe." Charlie steps forward, holding out the illusory scepter. "This only feels wrong because it's been so long since you were in its presence. Focus on it, be with it, and let the Liar's story do its job."
"Much to long to really remember." Kari agrees.
Dr. Pep Mountain tastes like the color Green, and fills Charlie with a sense of being able to do anything he sets his mind to.
The qephilim looks confused for a moment at his words, then lowers her head. She hiccups; a curiously human sound coming from a very inhuman creature.
"Your words and gifts are powerful, mage. I see this is indeed part of my scepter. I still need the second half before I can undo the damage I wrought, and return to my home."
She reaches out towards the illusion of the scepter's crown, then pulls her hand back before actually touching it.
"Please help me reunite the pieces." She laughs again. "Before I hurt someone."
Quietly, so as to not break the spell Charlie has woven, Kari requests "Can you find out what the other part looks like so we can help her?"
Terri's eyes are drawn to the colors of the qephilim. "So much," she says quietly.
Then she turns her back on it, pulls out her mirror/tablet, and looks at it in the mirror.
"Wow"
"Where was the last place you saw the missing piece of your scepter?" Charlie asks.
The qephilim locks eyes with Terri through the mirror, then bows her head again.
When Charlie speaks, she turns her attention to him instead.
"When I landed in the crypt, the scepter snapped and scattered, like I have snapped and scattered." She laughs again, but tears run down her cheeks. "I had the scepter, and then I didn't. The haft might be to the east... there are spirits here who covet treasure. I hear them whisper when I stop moving."
"There is a room of basins, and a hallway of vaults, then a passage to the Undercrypt. I didn't see a scepter but I also was not looking for any particular kind of treasure." The familiar whispers to Charlie.