((3 points, cuz I mention Kris and stuff, right? Eh, I posted, leave me alone.))
Hey, guys. Sorry I haven't been writing much, but I've been busy with Christian, and I figured he could just keep you informed on everything. Apparently that's too much trouble for him, though, despite the big favor he asked of me. So... I guess I should fill you in on everything that's been happening since I last wrote.
First, I was just doing normal patroll-y ghost-helping stuff. None of the stuff you guys can understand is all that exciting, so I won't bore you with the simplicities. Basically, I kept helping ghosts for awhile like usual until the ship got me to where Christian was staying. He's living a pretty fancy life in his hotel, that's for sure. He's got this great hottub and everything. And his bed has to be the softest thing I've slept on in forever. While, second softest, but I'm not allowed to talk about that.
Annnnnyways, then we went down to the Underworld. That was a bit of a problem since apparently Christian's not too good at following the rules. We almost got in trouble once or twice, but between my knowledge and Chris' skills, we managed to get all the way down to the dominion of the Athenaeum. It's impossible to tell how large it is from outside, but what little we saw was huge and winding and... Have any of you seen the movie the Pagemaster? Well, something like that, but with more books and death. So, we had to find Chris's important information, but it turned out to be in some area that was blocked off by an overzealous mage. So, we had to find him, which... as you heard from Chris was a difficult task for a variety of reasons. I won't rehash the whole thing, though. Suffice it to say, we were pretty screwed between a monster and the dominion's guardian. Luckily, I had a friend. A really powerful ghost that had been tucked away in the flower you always saw me wearing in my hair. She healed me faster than even Undine could've after I died, and offered me one more favor. She seemed a little disappointed when I told her what I needed help with, but... in the end, she seemed happy to finally be able to move on.
So, that's the only major thing that's happened for awhile. I wish I could stay longer with Christian, but my krewe really wants my help with something. We're going to be raiding some major Cheron facility. Huge power drains, the works. It'll probably turn out to be nothing, at any rate, and then I can come back to spend some time with Rami, assuming Chris manages to pull off what he's been preparing for. I'm certainly rooting for him.
Ja ne~
Lizzie T. O'Conner
Monday, December 31, 2012
Monday, December 24, 2012
Austin's Entry for December
Merry Christmas, everyone. And happy Chanukah. Have I told you lately that I loved you? Because I really do. Reporting from the beautiful and historic city of Athens. The one in Greece. Spent the better part of a week attending meetings and rallies for the Golden Dawn. I even spoke once or twice. It was a very pleasant surprise to learn just how popular English is as a second language here. Greek isn't one of the languages I've been trying to learn, so I doubt we could have gotten much done here otherwise. Mikalhikos, the party secretary, doesn't speak English, so we needed a translator for him, but that was almost one on one so it wasn't a big issue.
Our reputation proceeds us wherever I go, and mine in particular as an agitator and troublemaker. I wasn't prepared to make speeches, but talking impromptu isn't nearly as difficult as I'd imagined. I think it helps when most of your audience only speaks English as a second language, believe it or not. But practice makes perfect, and I got some practice. I can feel satisfied. For once my own aplomb is getting me what I need. Intellectually the Dawn is soundly and soberly Fascist. It really brings me back to study their doctrine. It warms my heart, and makes me feel very nostalgic.
The laymembers meanwhile are anything but intellectuals. The world calls them Nazis and thugs, and now that I've met them I have to agree. They're vulgar. I know I've been known to swear a lot when I lose my temper, but for these people it's part of the language. This goes beyond healthy fanaticism. They're pathological. They're rude, they're cruel, they're impatient, they're NASTY. Antisemitism and hatred of the Turks is rife even at the very top. And yet these are the gentlemen closest to the truth. It really reflects poorly on this period that the Golden Dawn is Europe's only hope. And they are. They really are.
Is this humanity? I am forced to conclude as I have before that only individuals really matter. You, me, our friends, the people we care about. Race and culture almost don't enter into it. Wherever you go the decent, kindly folk will be difficult to find. But that's our job. No more sentimentality. Just as we talk about the quality of the fish, or the quality of the wheat, or the quality of cow, we shall say "That is a person of low quality" and be done with them. If the bulk of life on this sphere is to perish, we must preserve the natural aristocracy.
Anyway Mikalhikos has lent us two old airplanes and a tiny little ship. He won't like where we're planning to take them. How much do you gentlemen know about Abdul Al-Hazrid? The Mad Arab. In his day the middle-east was the cultural center of the world, famous for its mathematicians and astronomers. It was also, as I've come to understand, the center of esoteric learning. The occulory beneath Arhkam university is actually the imitation of a much grander complex underneath Jerusalem. The Israeli government currently has exclusive access to that site, but there are others, lost or hidden. As it turns out Al-Hazrid may have done his best work on the necronomicon while he had access to one these ancient ominoculory sites.
I don't know the details, but the magnification on some of those old scopes has got to be thousands of times what we're used to. I'm confident some of them are still around, and now the Miskatonic is basically a lost cause I don't know what else to do besides track them down. We're hoping the civil war in Syria will offer us good cover for moving around. Might be able to work something out with the rebels if we're lucky.
Toodles.
Our reputation proceeds us wherever I go, and mine in particular as an agitator and troublemaker. I wasn't prepared to make speeches, but talking impromptu isn't nearly as difficult as I'd imagined. I think it helps when most of your audience only speaks English as a second language, believe it or not. But practice makes perfect, and I got some practice. I can feel satisfied. For once my own aplomb is getting me what I need. Intellectually the Dawn is soundly and soberly Fascist. It really brings me back to study their doctrine. It warms my heart, and makes me feel very nostalgic.
The laymembers meanwhile are anything but intellectuals. The world calls them Nazis and thugs, and now that I've met them I have to agree. They're vulgar. I know I've been known to swear a lot when I lose my temper, but for these people it's part of the language. This goes beyond healthy fanaticism. They're pathological. They're rude, they're cruel, they're impatient, they're NASTY. Antisemitism and hatred of the Turks is rife even at the very top. And yet these are the gentlemen closest to the truth. It really reflects poorly on this period that the Golden Dawn is Europe's only hope. And they are. They really are.
Is this humanity? I am forced to conclude as I have before that only individuals really matter. You, me, our friends, the people we care about. Race and culture almost don't enter into it. Wherever you go the decent, kindly folk will be difficult to find. But that's our job. No more sentimentality. Just as we talk about the quality of the fish, or the quality of the wheat, or the quality of cow, we shall say "That is a person of low quality" and be done with them. If the bulk of life on this sphere is to perish, we must preserve the natural aristocracy.
Anyway Mikalhikos has lent us two old airplanes and a tiny little ship. He won't like where we're planning to take them. How much do you gentlemen know about Abdul Al-Hazrid? The Mad Arab. In his day the middle-east was the cultural center of the world, famous for its mathematicians and astronomers. It was also, as I've come to understand, the center of esoteric learning. The occulory beneath Arhkam university is actually the imitation of a much grander complex underneath Jerusalem. The Israeli government currently has exclusive access to that site, but there are others, lost or hidden. As it turns out Al-Hazrid may have done his best work on the necronomicon while he had access to one these ancient ominoculory sites.
I don't know the details, but the magnification on some of those old scopes has got to be thousands of times what we're used to. I'm confident some of them are still around, and now the Miskatonic is basically a lost cause I don't know what else to do besides track them down. We're hoping the civil war in Syria will offer us good cover for moving around. Might be able to work something out with the rebels if we're lucky.
Toodles.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Rick's Entry for December 2012
Hello everypony.... I mean, everybody. I blame this weird cult of ferals I've found on the web. They're like, a group of feral who are all horsekin and takes nicknames based on the TV show My Little Pony. Weirdos. Don't tell them I said that! The web has ears everywhere. Speaking of the web, my own little space on the web to promote the union of ferals is... kind of underwhelming so far. There have been people of all places interested in the idea and the word have spread a bit, but not nearly as fast as I hope. I think I need to study a bit more the mythos around here and try to find one, strong argument to make ferals want to unite under the same cause... because apparently, saving the world isn't all that popular.
This said, I haven't been sitting on my butt all month! Well... I have been sitting on my butt a large portion of it, or laying in bed, but that's beside the point! I did go out a bit, once again thanks to the rather persuasive ways of my dear Amelia. May she go in Hell. Hah, just joking, but really, meeting the vampires, on their turf, wasn't exactly.... what I would call a fun party. Things were pretty tense on their side, as the growing population of other groups have been making their power wane a lot in the chessboard of the Supernatural. That's where we come into play, of course. We're working on the details of how to bridge the gap between them and the werewolves. If we are to be united, we need to be able to count on them not killing each other... among other things. Our evening there had been fruitful... but I'm not exactly looking forward to our next scheduled meeting either. Darn, those people are creepy!
So, we basically got that covered. Just need to be a little better at uniting the ferals. If I can manage that, it should be better to show the other races that we are serious. As for you guys... for all the time I did spent doing nothing, I can't say I've really been keeping an eye on what you have been doing. It's nice to hear that everybody is alright, especially you Lizzy! You had me worried. You should take the time to write a little something, it's not really fair to put all that weight on Chris' shoulder. Being a Mage is tough enough, I'm sure. As for you Darrel... I guess I won't tell you to be careful, this time. Obviously, you don't listen when I try to warn you. So I'm just going to wish you the best of luck. In fact, I want to wish everyone the best of luck. We're closer to the truth, I can sense it. We're going to send those things back where they belong with some well deserved ass kicking!
-Rick
PS: Austin, can you check at my home when you have time to see if my other pikachu plush is in my home? I may have misplaced mine, I can't find it, and it makes me kinda sad. It's not important though, just a silly feral need. kthkbai!
This said, I haven't been sitting on my butt all month! Well... I have been sitting on my butt a large portion of it, or laying in bed, but that's beside the point! I did go out a bit, once again thanks to the rather persuasive ways of my dear Amelia. May she go in Hell. Hah, just joking, but really, meeting the vampires, on their turf, wasn't exactly.... what I would call a fun party. Things were pretty tense on their side, as the growing population of other groups have been making their power wane a lot in the chessboard of the Supernatural. That's where we come into play, of course. We're working on the details of how to bridge the gap between them and the werewolves. If we are to be united, we need to be able to count on them not killing each other... among other things. Our evening there had been fruitful... but I'm not exactly looking forward to our next scheduled meeting either. Darn, those people are creepy!
So, we basically got that covered. Just need to be a little better at uniting the ferals. If I can manage that, it should be better to show the other races that we are serious. As for you guys... for all the time I did spent doing nothing, I can't say I've really been keeping an eye on what you have been doing. It's nice to hear that everybody is alright, especially you Lizzy! You had me worried. You should take the time to write a little something, it's not really fair to put all that weight on Chris' shoulder. Being a Mage is tough enough, I'm sure. As for you Darrel... I guess I won't tell you to be careful, this time. Obviously, you don't listen when I try to warn you. So I'm just going to wish you the best of luck. In fact, I want to wish everyone the best of luck. We're closer to the truth, I can sense it. We're going to send those things back where they belong with some well deserved ass kicking!
-Rick
PS: Austin, can you check at my home when you have time to see if my other pikachu plush is in my home? I may have misplaced mine, I can't find it, and it makes me kinda sad. It's not important though, just a silly feral need. kthkbai!
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Christian's Entry for December 2012
((4 points, because it was done on time, but couldn’t be sent in time.))
Holy crap does life go on. I haven’t had such an action packed set of entries to look at since this whole thing got started. I’d say I was jealous, but after Lizzie and I in the Underworld, I will be content with a little relaxation for awhile. Not that we have been sitting here doing nothing, mind you. It’s been good to have someone familiar around, after this year away on a crazy vow with crazy rules. Not that it didn’t pay off in the end. I will spare myself for the end, as I usually do in these matters. Will be brief this month. I am about to leave on the most important mission of my life. I have tomorrow to prepare, then it’s off on my own again.
I am glad to hear that you have reconciled to the fact that we cannot negotiate with the Great Outside. As much as I wished the solution were that simple, I agree that we should do whatever it takes and not care if we need to push the outsiders aside to do it. Colonizing the outside seems a bit dangerous, though. I would be content if we could have our own world for ourselves. The universe is a big place. Their power, perhaps. And anything they’ve left behind... but I see no reason to go into the outside. Let me know if you have any success, but remember that our primary goal is the survival of our race and of Earth. Don’t make conquering the enemy more important than our own survival. Because it isn’t. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.
Come on Lizzie, I know what’s going on with you, but they don’t! At least I’m not worried about her the way I have been in the past. I know she’s not captured in some lab this time. Trust me, Lizzie’s doing great. Even if she’s a little too nosy for her own good. You promised you wouldn’t tell, Lizzie, so I don’t wanna see no entries about it.
Rick, I wish you well in Europe. If you can unite the ferals, then by all means try! I’ve been trying to unite the Mages for more than a year. We’re actually making some ground there lately, but it looked very discouraging months and months ago when I was under the vow living in a ruined building. Just don’t give up. I don’t know if you will be able to unite the werewolves, but... if you could figure out what creates a feral like you... think of all the nature enthusiasts that would flock to your cause! You could create your own army out of ordinary men and women! The earth would quake at the might of man! And beast. You shouldn’t be jealous of our trip, though... It was fun to be together, but the Underworld sucks big time. I don’t want to ever go back there. We have things so good up here and all those ghosts are just screwed. It’s a bad place. So far from the supernal there wasn’t a high place in sight. Yuck. I can’t bring anyone back from the dead, though. That’s not what I’m doing with Ramira.
This is for you too, Darrell. It is true that the Master can do this, but I don't have his mastery. What I wanted to do is a simpler business. Ramira did not die. She wasn't stabbed or shot or anything like that. She was TAKEN into the void. She was taken out of our universe. I want to prove that our magic is better than theirs by using it to pull her back at the moment she was taken. Because time doesn’t apply on the outside, not the way we understand it, we can pull her back in the moment she left, and it will be like she was never there... complicated quantum mechanics stuff, yadayada… that’s the magic I am looking for. Only the Master could bring back the dead, but I am hoping for his help. The magic of the oracles would be exactly what we need to push back the void. At least my contribution to it. We WILL need more. The world was not made by the oracles. Supernal magic was a part of it but it was not alone. We will need more. And I will not be the one to find it. There are more First Words than mine.
Darrell, good luck. Be safe. I know you’re a hard one to kill though, so I'm not too worried. I won't be able to bring people back from the dead all the time when I'm done, but I hope that I can bring back one. I will prove that it can be done and in so doing I will prove that we are better than they. They think our boundaries and our reality and our law makes us weak, but in reality it makes us strong. The outside is limitless, and so their accomplishments mean nothing. We have meaning. That is why they even bother to kill us. Because they went to take away the one thing they cannot ever understand.
So, I have discovered much of what we mages know to be wrong in this quest of mine in this quest for the Oracles. THEY do exist! But not in the form mages thought. The Oracles were Dragons. This is the name for them, not the race. This is the story I learned from the records I extracted from the Library, which I have spent the bulk of the month in translation. It has been an exhaustive effort, but I /have/ learned. So anyways... The Dragons were ordinary men and women, but they were masters of their craft. Mundane crafts. Mundane sciences, very primitive sciences. But this world is a reflection of the Supernal above us. In their perfect, supernal craftsmanship, these Dragons learned supernal truth. They were the first to awaken, and they led others to awakening in whom they saw the potential. They founded Atlantis, whatever it really was. The scroll does not talk much about what happened after that. But it talks about what they did. The Master of the Carpenter’s Order, the Oracle of the Aether... he made tools of remarkable quality. Somehow... he lived much sooner than I thought possible. All of the Oracles lived at different times... something about their calling brought them back to the... I don’t understand that part. But he made tools for the Greeks, some of the most advanced tools that the world had ever seen. Some of those survive today. I will not give details in case someone is reading this who shouldn’t be. But they exist, and I have done the research, and I know where to find what I am looking for. When I get it, I am going to call the Oracles to help us defend their world.
It can be done, my friends. It will be done. I will be the one to do it. Or I will die trying. Good luck to you all. Darrell... one last word of advice. The Outside cannot be controlled or handled forever. That powered armor suit thing... that thing that was inside it. My advice is to stay away. Whoever in the Union is making those needs to be stopped. It is clearly not human. Unless the shoggoths are working with us... and that’s a fair possibility... the idea of what might really be in that suit is horrifying to me. I wish I had the time to deal with it, but I can’t. Maybe someone else can.
Good luck to you all. Until we meet again.
Holy crap does life go on. I haven’t had such an action packed set of entries to look at since this whole thing got started. I’d say I was jealous, but after Lizzie and I in the Underworld, I will be content with a little relaxation for awhile. Not that we have been sitting here doing nothing, mind you. It’s been good to have someone familiar around, after this year away on a crazy vow with crazy rules. Not that it didn’t pay off in the end. I will spare myself for the end, as I usually do in these matters. Will be brief this month. I am about to leave on the most important mission of my life. I have tomorrow to prepare, then it’s off on my own again.
I am glad to hear that you have reconciled to the fact that we cannot negotiate with the Great Outside. As much as I wished the solution were that simple, I agree that we should do whatever it takes and not care if we need to push the outsiders aside to do it. Colonizing the outside seems a bit dangerous, though. I would be content if we could have our own world for ourselves. The universe is a big place. Their power, perhaps. And anything they’ve left behind... but I see no reason to go into the outside. Let me know if you have any success, but remember that our primary goal is the survival of our race and of Earth. Don’t make conquering the enemy more important than our own survival. Because it isn’t. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.
Come on Lizzie, I know what’s going on with you, but they don’t! At least I’m not worried about her the way I have been in the past. I know she’s not captured in some lab this time. Trust me, Lizzie’s doing great. Even if she’s a little too nosy for her own good. You promised you wouldn’t tell, Lizzie, so I don’t wanna see no entries about it.
Rick, I wish you well in Europe. If you can unite the ferals, then by all means try! I’ve been trying to unite the Mages for more than a year. We’re actually making some ground there lately, but it looked very discouraging months and months ago when I was under the vow living in a ruined building. Just don’t give up. I don’t know if you will be able to unite the werewolves, but... if you could figure out what creates a feral like you... think of all the nature enthusiasts that would flock to your cause! You could create your own army out of ordinary men and women! The earth would quake at the might of man! And beast. You shouldn’t be jealous of our trip, though... It was fun to be together, but the Underworld sucks big time. I don’t want to ever go back there. We have things so good up here and all those ghosts are just screwed. It’s a bad place. So far from the supernal there wasn’t a high place in sight. Yuck. I can’t bring anyone back from the dead, though. That’s not what I’m doing with Ramira.
This is for you too, Darrell. It is true that the Master can do this, but I don't have his mastery. What I wanted to do is a simpler business. Ramira did not die. She wasn't stabbed or shot or anything like that. She was TAKEN into the void. She was taken out of our universe. I want to prove that our magic is better than theirs by using it to pull her back at the moment she was taken. Because time doesn’t apply on the outside, not the way we understand it, we can pull her back in the moment she left, and it will be like she was never there... complicated quantum mechanics stuff, yadayada… that’s the magic I am looking for. Only the Master could bring back the dead, but I am hoping for his help. The magic of the oracles would be exactly what we need to push back the void. At least my contribution to it. We WILL need more. The world was not made by the oracles. Supernal magic was a part of it but it was not alone. We will need more. And I will not be the one to find it. There are more First Words than mine.
Darrell, good luck. Be safe. I know you’re a hard one to kill though, so I'm not too worried. I won't be able to bring people back from the dead all the time when I'm done, but I hope that I can bring back one. I will prove that it can be done and in so doing I will prove that we are better than they. They think our boundaries and our reality and our law makes us weak, but in reality it makes us strong. The outside is limitless, and so their accomplishments mean nothing. We have meaning. That is why they even bother to kill us. Because they went to take away the one thing they cannot ever understand.
So, I have discovered much of what we mages know to be wrong in this quest of mine in this quest for the Oracles. THEY do exist! But not in the form mages thought. The Oracles were Dragons. This is the name for them, not the race. This is the story I learned from the records I extracted from the Library, which I have spent the bulk of the month in translation. It has been an exhaustive effort, but I /have/ learned. So anyways... The Dragons were ordinary men and women, but they were masters of their craft. Mundane crafts. Mundane sciences, very primitive sciences. But this world is a reflection of the Supernal above us. In their perfect, supernal craftsmanship, these Dragons learned supernal truth. They were the first to awaken, and they led others to awakening in whom they saw the potential. They founded Atlantis, whatever it really was. The scroll does not talk much about what happened after that. But it talks about what they did. The Master of the Carpenter’s Order, the Oracle of the Aether... he made tools of remarkable quality. Somehow... he lived much sooner than I thought possible. All of the Oracles lived at different times... something about their calling brought them back to the... I don’t understand that part. But he made tools for the Greeks, some of the most advanced tools that the world had ever seen. Some of those survive today. I will not give details in case someone is reading this who shouldn’t be. But they exist, and I have done the research, and I know where to find what I am looking for. When I get it, I am going to call the Oracles to help us defend their world.
It can be done, my friends. It will be done. I will be the one to do it. Or I will die trying. Good luck to you all. Darrell... one last word of advice. The Outside cannot be controlled or handled forever. That powered armor suit thing... that thing that was inside it. My advice is to stay away. Whoever in the Union is making those needs to be stopped. It is clearly not human. Unless the shoggoths are working with us... and that’s a fair possibility... the idea of what might really be in that suit is horrifying to me. I wish I had the time to deal with it, but I can’t. Maybe someone else can.
Good luck to you all. Until we meet again.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Rick's Entry for November
(( 4 points. You know the deal. Time. Plot, Subplot. Others. ))
Hello, world!
We're arrived in Europe. We saw many new things, like ferals that could turn into nagas, and vampires... the latest, we had wished we hadn't seen. In fact, we're trying to keep a low profile and stay out of... certain places. We have been threatened and I'm pretty sure those weren't fake threats. Being told that our blood would be part of a grand family meeting was quite charming. Except not really. Other than that, Eastern Europe has a lot of nice things to see... but I have a feeling you guys don't really care about our tourism and the places we did stuff, so I will skip to the other good stuff.
Did you know that things here hide many secrets? Probably nothing like the things Lizzy and Christian found in the Library (which I hope I can see some day, because it does sound really cool), but we've found some interesting people. Vampires aren't the only ones around here, there are werewolves too. We may have had our feud in the past, but we both dislike vampires for different reasons, so we were able to use that to get into their inner circle. Told them about our cause, and they've started spreading the news on their conspiracy website. I think we may be assembling a little army of people willing to help us, but time will tell. After all, things on the net are fleeting, one second something is hot, the next, it's forgotten. Still, saving the world ought to create a few memes and spark some talk, shouldn't it?
That's it for us this month. I know I've been vague about my location, but I don't to say too much. Oh, by the way, we've found gramp in Toronto, got him out of there, he's fine. Amelia was definately happy about that. Anyway... Darrel, you really need to stop travelling places for no reason and get yourself almost killed. I mean, It's probably hypocritical of me to say this, but I think you're pushing it a liiiittle too far. It's not going to help if you're dead, unless Chris can actually bring people back from it. Why don't you come over here? I could give you indications about where we are if you want to come. Werewolves would probably be even more trusting if I had a werewolf here to help me.
Chris and Lizzy... well, glad to see you two are alive. I'm kind of jealous of your little trip, but I'm gonna keep quiet about it... I did say that Amelia kind of didn't like Lizzie, didn't I? Not hate, but... yeah... you two should get together to kills any doubt. :P
Time for me to go now. Be safe everyone, don't get killed too much! And if someone actually do revive Ramira, please tell me as soon as you can.
Hello, world!
We're arrived in Europe. We saw many new things, like ferals that could turn into nagas, and vampires... the latest, we had wished we hadn't seen. In fact, we're trying to keep a low profile and stay out of... certain places. We have been threatened and I'm pretty sure those weren't fake threats. Being told that our blood would be part of a grand family meeting was quite charming. Except not really. Other than that, Eastern Europe has a lot of nice things to see... but I have a feeling you guys don't really care about our tourism and the places we did stuff, so I will skip to the other good stuff.
Did you know that things here hide many secrets? Probably nothing like the things Lizzy and Christian found in the Library (which I hope I can see some day, because it does sound really cool), but we've found some interesting people. Vampires aren't the only ones around here, there are werewolves too. We may have had our feud in the past, but we both dislike vampires for different reasons, so we were able to use that to get into their inner circle. Told them about our cause, and they've started spreading the news on their conspiracy website. I think we may be assembling a little army of people willing to help us, but time will tell. After all, things on the net are fleeting, one second something is hot, the next, it's forgotten. Still, saving the world ought to create a few memes and spark some talk, shouldn't it?
That's it for us this month. I know I've been vague about my location, but I don't to say too much. Oh, by the way, we've found gramp in Toronto, got him out of there, he's fine. Amelia was definately happy about that. Anyway... Darrel, you really need to stop travelling places for no reason and get yourself almost killed. I mean, It's probably hypocritical of me to say this, but I think you're pushing it a liiiittle too far. It's not going to help if you're dead, unless Chris can actually bring people back from it. Why don't you come over here? I could give you indications about where we are if you want to come. Werewolves would probably be even more trusting if I had a werewolf here to help me.
Chris and Lizzy... well, glad to see you two are alive. I'm kind of jealous of your little trip, but I'm gonna keep quiet about it... I did say that Amelia kind of didn't like Lizzie, didn't I? Not hate, but... yeah... you two should get together to kills any doubt. :P
Time for me to go now. Be safe everyone, don't get killed too much! And if someone actually do revive Ramira, please tell me as soon as you can.
Friday, November 2, 2012
Austin's entry for the month of November (done)
((4 points, including 1 for world event. The Golden Dawn, a brutish, occult-rideen political party of the extreme right with offices all over Europe, sweeps to power in Greece admist terrible rioting. Part of their platform openly involves reigning in supernatural beings and powers, of which they accuse the rest of the world of being lax, cowardly and slow. The Party is at the forefront of the first real witch-hunts seen in Europe for almost a thousand years))
Where to begin? For once there's so much to talk about I don't know where to start. Hello, hello from northern Ireland, I suppose. Belfast, actually. I could try to deal with things in order, but uh... order of importance, specifically. First, on the subject of the The Enemy. I think I can say with confidence I've changed my tune. Over the last few months I've seen and experienced more than enough to believe in the final victory. It was ridiculous to assume we could ever talk things out. Rather I'm of the mind our fortunes might someday be wholly reversed. We could do so much more than save Ramira. Ultimately we could carve out whole swaths of territory for ourselves; we could expand and change at the Outsiders' expense. They have nothing to gain by extinguishing the flame of life, where as we have everything to gain if we could devour the void itself and make it our foundation.
Our progenitors the Great Old Ones came very close to realizing this goal before the Shaggoths turned on them, and the Shaggoths have come to regret that development. And even if we ought not to trust them we still have a unique edge this time around. It is certainly true that faith is our chiefest ally. Our quest is for the New Realm and the New Man, and we can find them only through faith. Faith in ourselves will carry us to ultimate victory.
Now uh... perhaps I should regale you with some of my recent exploits. Running damage control in Arkham has been costing me a fortune, but that's over with. I don't like the idea of handing it over to Sea Org but I'd rather not piss them off. We packed up everything we could and hauled it over to the oculory. Shop we've got set up now is a bit modest but we'll be making much better use of it, I promise you that. Cookies are even suggesting we could open up a proper underground resturaunt, bring in some extra money and let us keep tabs on all the 'sorts' passin' through Arhkam. Right now though we're just holding together. What's left of us.
It's funny how so many of us got the idea to head off to Europe at about the same time. Interesting. Tis' what you call a coincidence. Darrel will have left for England or Wales by now. I'd have been in Belfast over a month ago if I could help it. At the moment I'm getting about read to leave for my next stop. I may not have been here very long but I'm sure I left a good impression on the N-I-R-A. In their company, uh... well many false lives have been extinguished. Now I don't have the patience or the time for every little detail, and anyway the whole affair ought rightly to remain hush-hush lest I endanger you all, so instead here's a rundown of exactly the sort of thoughts I was thinking in the order I thought them while I was in mortal danger. You're all intelligent enough to piece things together on your own. Also it was my birthday last month, so consider this my birthday present from me, me, to you. You.
Ahem. Irish cops aren't allowed to carry any guns! They'd rather waste time in the wilderness following a poltergeist blood clot than solve any crimes! They also hang out at the docks welding shit together since they make pretty much no money. They trap their women in a storage hole to protect them from their trouser lust! So, we're gonna' want guns, of course, we're gonna' have to talk to the Cranberries for that. AND we're gonna' want drugs, we're gonna' also have to talk to the Cranberries for THAT. These bro-skates are gonna' have to get really fuckin' high to deal with United Irish isles. This place freakin' sucks and I'm going to have to inject a TON of [REDACTED]. Are they really gonna' try and pidgeon-dick me into one of THESE shity rolls? They even have trentals in this town. That's what they call them over here. Trentals.
Oh no, ghosts and badguys came! Ring the dinner bell, it's time for your shit! Look at these jokers, everyone stays just followin' each other around, it's 'cause Irish people STILL don't have their independence! Whatever, just dose up and forget about it, mate. And never shake that gory bridge at me. NEVER SHAKE! Irish people would interrupt the best gym job of their lives to go to church. Dammit it's so dark it's harder to tell what's going than a pregnancy test, which I could deal with if I wasn't gonna' be a DAD soon!
The stockings get hung by the chimney with kerosine, cause Irish people only like that shit when it burns! Dangit I told you idiots if you just stay together you're gonna' be a bunch of sitting dogs! You gotta' split up and go in the darkness so they approach you in a line single file. So you're dead, stupid, I know how to work every weapon that was ever born! Damn, Christmas Cracker, a white person's worst nightmare.
Suddenly from the menstrual miasma they strike! Do you even want to know what THAT is?
I think that about covers it, honestly. Part one of my little holiday is now successfully complete. Next stop will be to the south-west, followed by a trip to the Black Forest, then Lapland, and finally northern Russia. Seeing a pattern? I wish I'd thought of Europe months ago. Vampires. Werewolves. The Hosts of Heaven. My sort of crowd; exultant, ruthless and VIRILE! Actually if I can I'm going to try and make my way yo Greece. You have heard a thing or two about the Golden Dawn. Securing their good offices might allow us to finally ween ourselves off the puss-laden teet of Scientology. Naveou Europa! The Kingdom of Noise TREMBLES at our advance.
Happy hunting, gentlemen. Your affectionate comrade, A. A. Merit.
Where to begin? For once there's so much to talk about I don't know where to start. Hello, hello from northern Ireland, I suppose. Belfast, actually. I could try to deal with things in order, but uh... order of importance, specifically. First, on the subject of the The Enemy. I think I can say with confidence I've changed my tune. Over the last few months I've seen and experienced more than enough to believe in the final victory. It was ridiculous to assume we could ever talk things out. Rather I'm of the mind our fortunes might someday be wholly reversed. We could do so much more than save Ramira. Ultimately we could carve out whole swaths of territory for ourselves; we could expand and change at the Outsiders' expense. They have nothing to gain by extinguishing the flame of life, where as we have everything to gain if we could devour the void itself and make it our foundation.
Our progenitors the Great Old Ones came very close to realizing this goal before the Shaggoths turned on them, and the Shaggoths have come to regret that development. And even if we ought not to trust them we still have a unique edge this time around. It is certainly true that faith is our chiefest ally. Our quest is for the New Realm and the New Man, and we can find them only through faith. Faith in ourselves will carry us to ultimate victory.
Now uh... perhaps I should regale you with some of my recent exploits. Running damage control in Arkham has been costing me a fortune, but that's over with. I don't like the idea of handing it over to Sea Org but I'd rather not piss them off. We packed up everything we could and hauled it over to the oculory. Shop we've got set up now is a bit modest but we'll be making much better use of it, I promise you that. Cookies are even suggesting we could open up a proper underground resturaunt, bring in some extra money and let us keep tabs on all the 'sorts' passin' through Arhkam. Right now though we're just holding together. What's left of us.
It's funny how so many of us got the idea to head off to Europe at about the same time. Interesting. Tis' what you call a coincidence. Darrel will have left for England or Wales by now. I'd have been in Belfast over a month ago if I could help it. At the moment I'm getting about read to leave for my next stop. I may not have been here very long but I'm sure I left a good impression on the N-I-R-A. In their company, uh... well many false lives have been extinguished. Now I don't have the patience or the time for every little detail, and anyway the whole affair ought rightly to remain hush-hush lest I endanger you all, so instead here's a rundown of exactly the sort of thoughts I was thinking in the order I thought them while I was in mortal danger. You're all intelligent enough to piece things together on your own. Also it was my birthday last month, so consider this my birthday present from me, me, to you. You.
Ahem. Irish cops aren't allowed to carry any guns! They'd rather waste time in the wilderness following a poltergeist blood clot than solve any crimes! They also hang out at the docks welding shit together since they make pretty much no money. They trap their women in a storage hole to protect them from their trouser lust! So, we're gonna' want guns, of course, we're gonna' have to talk to the Cranberries for that. AND we're gonna' want drugs, we're gonna' also have to talk to the Cranberries for THAT. These bro-skates are gonna' have to get really fuckin' high to deal with United Irish isles. This place freakin' sucks and I'm going to have to inject a TON of [REDACTED]. Are they really gonna' try and pidgeon-dick me into one of THESE shity rolls? They even have trentals in this town. That's what they call them over here. Trentals.
Oh no, ghosts and badguys came! Ring the dinner bell, it's time for your shit! Look at these jokers, everyone stays just followin' each other around, it's 'cause Irish people STILL don't have their independence! Whatever, just dose up and forget about it, mate. And never shake that gory bridge at me. NEVER SHAKE! Irish people would interrupt the best gym job of their lives to go to church. Dammit it's so dark it's harder to tell what's going than a pregnancy test, which I could deal with if I wasn't gonna' be a DAD soon!
The stockings get hung by the chimney with kerosine, cause Irish people only like that shit when it burns! Dangit I told you idiots if you just stay together you're gonna' be a bunch of sitting dogs! You gotta' split up and go in the darkness so they approach you in a line single file. So you're dead, stupid, I know how to work every weapon that was ever born! Damn, Christmas Cracker, a white person's worst nightmare.
Suddenly from the menstrual miasma they strike! Do you even want to know what THAT is?
I think that about covers it, honestly. Part one of my little holiday is now successfully complete. Next stop will be to the south-west, followed by a trip to the Black Forest, then Lapland, and finally northern Russia. Seeing a pattern? I wish I'd thought of Europe months ago. Vampires. Werewolves. The Hosts of Heaven. My sort of crowd; exultant, ruthless and VIRILE! Actually if I can I'm going to try and make my way yo Greece. You have heard a thing or two about the Golden Dawn. Securing their good offices might allow us to finally ween ourselves off the puss-laden teet of Scientology. Naveou Europa! The Kingdom of Noise TREMBLES at our advance.
Happy hunting, gentlemen. Your affectionate comrade, A. A. Merit.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Christian's Entry for November 2012
((Four points, as I meet all the requirements for such. I hope to have my short story into Kirby soon, the entry that’s due at the end of January. That means a little bit of a dip into the future with things, but that’s okay. It just means everybody is going to know what I’m gonna find in my December entry. And End, in no uncertain terms, you don't need to stress too much about the rules. We're dealing with threats at such a cosmic scale that the rules are largely irrelevant anyways. I've had a short back-and-forth RP going with Kirby for the last two months to figure out this entry, and not once did we even consult rules for it. Don't stress out. And yes, other races do have weaknesses. Cold Iron, Fire, Sunlight, Humans (Prometheans). Only mages and Sin-Eaters don’t. But enough about rules. Onto the story!))
Dear Everyone,
We only just got out. Tired, weak, drained. Barely alive I think. But we are alive, both of us. And we've done it! So no doubt you will remember that I talked about proving that the magic we have is greater than the Outsiders. Prove that cthulhu and the rest did not have true dominion over everything, even if that's the way it looks right now. The only way to prove that would be to use the magic of any of the races to try and the Outsiders directly. My small-scale test is going to be bringing back Ramira. In order to accomplish this, I wanted to find one of the Oracles, which is easier said than done. Mages have been trying to find the Oracles since Atlantis fell, without much success. Of course I came up with a different approach to solving the conundrum I hoped might be more effective.
The fact is, if the Oracles really existed, they were all ordinary people before they ascended and became the godlike beings they are (presumably) now. Instead of looking for them directly, I figured the easiest way to find them would be to track down someone made while they were still human, made by their own hands. A spell, or a tool, or a sandwich, it wouldn't matter. Find it, knowing what it was, and use it to target them with sympathetic magic. Simple, yes? Not at all. It requires the knowledge of who the Oracles were /before/ they became who they are. Obviously that knowledge has been dead for some time. As such, we had only one place to turn: The Athenaeum. I've been hoping to get together with Liz to travel down there, since I don’t know the first thing about the underworld. Well that happened. Not much to report before that. The mages here are mostly speculating and postulating, and dealing with relocating our number that had been living in Boston and Toronto. The possibility of partnerships with local military, and this insane suggestion of an alliance with the True Fae (not my idea) have been proposed. As it stands, we're still waiting on the Guardians of the Veil, along with the Mysterium. I think I know how I will win the support of the Guardians, actually. Their job already lines up with what we're trying to do, so all that I have to do is prove to them that I'm this guy called the... nevermind. I think this will play right into our hands, though. If I can bring Rami back from the dead, it would be all the proof they need, and we'll only be two orders short of a pentacle.
But nothing really happened in that space, just lots of talking. The Yakuza keep the streets clear here, for which we thank them. The Silver Ladder already has agreements in place with the vampires here. I just wish we could make those worldwide. But none of the other races seem to have such a unified structure. You couldn't unite them the same way... which is unfortunate.
So what happened? Well, not being judicious with the details, Lizzie knows what she's doing around the Underworld. Getting into the Library was much harder than I had thought. Here I thought that we could just ride a train or something (a dead train, spooky) straight in. But no. Apparently there are all these rules down there called the Old Laws that you can't break. Like, can't. I didn't even see the Others down there. When you do try to break them, there are these horrible monsters that try to kill you. We had to wander through several different little dead kingdoms, each one with their own rules. It's /insane/ down there. I suspect that the Underworld will probably be the last part of our world to fall. Maybe if we need to run we should follow the Sin Eaters. They'll probably live longer than any of the rest of us. Though they might not want to.
We made it there eventually, though. The Athenaeum was guarded by a pair of gigantic sphinxes... and no, that isn't a joke or an exaggeration. The supposedly mythical creature. Getting in was not easy - it was give them something new or die. I was glad I've been on a quest for knowledge for basically a year now, so I had something to share. Something true, and terrible. If only telling them made me forget.
When we got inside, things didn't get any easier. Turns out the information had been stolen by an ancient mage, who had been cursed and trapped as a result. We managed to track him down, and he agreed to show us what we needed so long as we would free him. This was... easier said than done, since the only way to do that was with magic, and one of the laws of the place was that magic cannot be used. He made us promise, though... and I thought we were dead. Or we might be. Honestly, I was surprised. Liz stuck with me. She could have left me to it... if she had, I'd be dead, but... once he had led us to the scroll we needed, I digitized it, and it was time to make good on the bargain. Which meant breaking the Old Laws. You should have felt the ground shake when that thing started coming. That poor mage’s body was still fading to his final reward when it came, knocking over shelves and screaming to get at us, hidden away as we were.
You would not believe the sort of damage that thing took and seemed not even to notice. It wasn’t as though we had much of our power left by the time we got there to start with. It was all we could do to run. Fly, actually, as that seemed more worthwhile than wasting energy on fruitless attacks. In the end, though, it was a ghost who saved us. I wish I could properly thank her... I will let Liz talk more about her, since she was her friend. She got us out. Helped us escape. I don't even know what sort of magic that was... but we weren't in the Underworld anymore. And we have what we need. The work of translation is going to begin soon, once Liz and I get a chance to rest. A long, well—deserved rest. I think I know why the Athenaeum hates mages now, though.
I wish all of you a safe month. I am glad that Zeus was able to kill that thing, whatever it was. The Arrow will help as long as they can, but they won’t be able to stay forever. Their unit will he needed somewhere else, perhaps they already have other orders. I’m sure they won’t abandon you, though. Once you get out, you are gonna need somewhere new. My suggestion would be somewhere new. Somewhere in the wilderness, without a rotten history of corruption and evil. As for Europe, Ricky, it is definitely worth exploring, but there are not many of your kind there. It may be dangerous for you. Europe is the old world and is ruled primarily by the old races. Vampires are in the distinct majority among all races there (except human) so watch out if you decide to travel there!
As for everyone else, I hope you’re safe. Be patient. I will soon have the solution to this predicament of ours. Let Cthulhu try and stop us!
-Christian
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Rick's Entry for October 2012
First, you can stop looking for me guys, we're safe. Kind of. It's very long story, I will tell you some other time. What you need to know is that we got out of there... and that we aren't in the country anymore. Getting out of there had been the easiest part, leaving the country without being noticed, now that had been problematic. We were planning on going back to Austin, but we've heard about what happened in Toronto and Amelia insisted we went back there. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the sanest idea, but she seemed so troubled, I couldn't just leave her like that. We took the first plane to Montreal, then we trekked to Toronto over two days.
So, why all of this? If you listened to the news, as we did, you will know that the events in Rome had some repercussions, especially in large cities, where the underground communities are quite large. In Toronto, it's the Changing Breeds's turf. Foxes, Bears, Canines and Felines, as many groups who tried for long to claim hoods around here, and who struggle against the growing influence of Werewolves factions. Or they did. The leader of each faction met in a secret meeting they and came to an agreement, they would rid the city of the werewolves by uniting their force.
Last week, they've stuck. I've seen some of the sites where battles took place, it isn't pretty. Dozens of losses in each camp, the streets are tainted with blood, the forces of order are on high alert. Its being publicized as and intense gang fight and some call it terrorism, but we know better, don't we? The world is in chaos and everyone want their piece of the cake, including our species, apparently. I'm not going to lie, we're probably going to barely win, but we will be decimated. However, Amelia and I are not here to help the fight, I know better but to get involved in those petty fights. If we're here, it's to make sure Amelia's grandfather is fine. He's a feral too and she was afraid that he may have been a victim of this war. We didn't find him yet, which is kind of worrying, but at least, we're alive, so it's a good thing. I won't tell you guys exactly where we are hiding, but it's somewhere in the Toronto Metropolitan Area. Don't worry about us, this place is in no way related to the ferals or the werewolves. If it goes well, we will have her gramp found and somewhere safe soon, and we will go back to the States.
But... enough about us, I don't want to say anything that would betray us. Sorry for this... sudden news. Guess we never do things like anyone else. I've read some of the things you've written since last time we wrote to each other. I'm happy to hear that you made it out of that cave too, Austin and Darrel. Sorry for your losses, though. Seems like we never can have an encounter with those things that ends well for everyone. Hopefully, this whole thing will end soon. Having to hide, to fight, to explore... that has never been my thing, and it probably never will be. You can thanks Amelia for my latest adventures, seems she's always pushing me somewhere new. Speaking of that, she made a few searches on the Internet about those things you mentioned, Chris. It led to conspiracies and occult website, nothing of great interest. What I did notice though was that a lot of these websites are hosted in Europe. So, either there's a lot of crazy people there... or there are a lot of people there who could be our allies, or our enemies. We will keep an eye on that in the next few days. Who knows, maybe we will be on the other side of the ocean by next month. I'm going to wait for you guys' opinion on that, though. Travelling to look up for one's family member is one thing, travelling to follow an unlikely trail in an unknown country, that may be too much. I'm not /that/ crazy. Then again, some vacation in the middle of all this chaos would be welcomed. Can do some tourism while following hints, right?
Either way, I will go for now. Got lots of things ahead of us. Good luck meeting Lizzie and Chris, may you be safe too. I can't wait for the day we will all meet again.
- Rick
PS: Blood really smells... surprisingly not bad. I hope it's not a bad sign...
(( 5PTS: On time, my subplot, mentioning others, a bit of progress on the main plot, World Event. ))
World Event: Huge gang war have stirred up in Toronto, an upset never seen before. The city is considering sending the army in to help the police deal with the insurgency. Some flights have been cancelled, other major cities in Canada are tightening their securities as criminal and gang activities seems to be on an historical high. The situation is under control for now, but Canada isn't a recommended destination at the moment and people are afraid of seeing things get worse. After all, there's never smoke without a fire.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Austin's entry for the month of October
Hello? Amelia? You still there?
I hope you're receiving this. Please pay attention and sound off as quickly as you can. How are you and Ricky doing? I want you guys to know we're looking for you. Specifically, thanks to our wonderful mutual friend Chris we've got some really professional battlemages down there, best in the world. You should stay put and look after Ricky, keep him lying flat, keep his injuries elevated and all that.
Now don't panic or anything, but keep an eye out and be quiet. We don't need to hear you to find you but there's the chance something else might hear you. Anything else down there is going to be really sensitive to sound and movement. Shouldn't be anything too bad if you're still around the same level we last saw each other. Just tell me about where you are. Any little details could help.
And... now for something completely different, I suppose. Well, gentlemen, it's officially a disaster. I should never have gone poking around down there so carelessly. That thing, whatever it is, it's dead now but the whole place stinks abominably and it's only going to get worse until we can decide what to do with the corpse. Logosh is dead. So many comrades in arms dead. June is badly hurt and so now everyone is coming straight to me. I don't know what to do, anymore, June was always the brains, not me.
Ahh, listen I really don't feel well. I'm think I'm going to try and keep this brief. We're in such big trouble still. The whole place is crumbling, huge cracks and holes opening up everywhere. There's water from broken pipes absolutely everywhere and my library is simply ruined. Just imagine, all those priceless old volumes completely soaked. Meanwhile I... I saw things, and now I'm not well, but I still have to put up with Sea Org and kissy-poo's damn friends breathing down my neck. This whole place was dedicated to Yog-Sathoth the dreadlord. The crypts are the foundation for the whole city, they easily, absolutely predate the colonization. Shouldn't be a surprise, I guess.
My god you don't want to know what we saw down there. There were these tiny cephelapods with long, conical soft shells. They were everywhere, thousands of them, on the walls and the ceilings, anywhere that was damp enough. If you got a little too close the tip of the shell would produce this ghastly little needle that followed you around. Fuck, there were FORESTS of those little needles on all sides of us sometimes. Then every now and then we'd run into a nest of crab sort of things with tiny bodies and long legs, like daddy long-legs with big swollen green pincers. They came right at us too, very nasty. I think... there might have been shaggoths, but we didn't see any, just the caustic trails.
Oh gods, I'm sorry. I can't do this right now. I'm too busy. I'll fill you all in next month. You... that gun saved all our lives, Chris. Thank you.
I hope you're receiving this. Please pay attention and sound off as quickly as you can. How are you and Ricky doing? I want you guys to know we're looking for you. Specifically, thanks to our wonderful mutual friend Chris we've got some really professional battlemages down there, best in the world. You should stay put and look after Ricky, keep him lying flat, keep his injuries elevated and all that.
Now don't panic or anything, but keep an eye out and be quiet. We don't need to hear you to find you but there's the chance something else might hear you. Anything else down there is going to be really sensitive to sound and movement. Shouldn't be anything too bad if you're still around the same level we last saw each other. Just tell me about where you are. Any little details could help.
And... now for something completely different, I suppose. Well, gentlemen, it's officially a disaster. I should never have gone poking around down there so carelessly. That thing, whatever it is, it's dead now but the whole place stinks abominably and it's only going to get worse until we can decide what to do with the corpse. Logosh is dead. So many comrades in arms dead. June is badly hurt and so now everyone is coming straight to me. I don't know what to do, anymore, June was always the brains, not me.
Ahh, listen I really don't feel well. I'm think I'm going to try and keep this brief. We're in such big trouble still. The whole place is crumbling, huge cracks and holes opening up everywhere. There's water from broken pipes absolutely everywhere and my library is simply ruined. Just imagine, all those priceless old volumes completely soaked. Meanwhile I... I saw things, and now I'm not well, but I still have to put up with Sea Org and kissy-poo's damn friends breathing down my neck. This whole place was dedicated to Yog-Sathoth the dreadlord. The crypts are the foundation for the whole city, they easily, absolutely predate the colonization. Shouldn't be a surprise, I guess.
My god you don't want to know what we saw down there. There were these tiny cephelapods with long, conical soft shells. They were everywhere, thousands of them, on the walls and the ceilings, anywhere that was damp enough. If you got a little too close the tip of the shell would produce this ghastly little needle that followed you around. Fuck, there were FORESTS of those little needles on all sides of us sometimes. Then every now and then we'd run into a nest of crab sort of things with tiny bodies and long legs, like daddy long-legs with big swollen green pincers. They came right at us too, very nasty. I think... there might have been shaggoths, but we didn't see any, just the caustic trails.
Oh gods, I'm sorry. I can't do this right now. I'm too busy. I'll fill you all in next month. You... that gun saved all our lives, Chris. Thank you.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Christian's Entry for October 2012
Holy crap, nothing brings home how much these letters suck as a situation like this. I want to help so much more! I want to teleport right over there now and end this thing with some real magic. Lightning is its weakness? Lightning is one of my greatest accomplishments! I could dispatch that thing in my sleep! But I'm here at a five star hotel while all of you are getting screwed. Alright. I really did not want to do this, but I'm going to. I've ordered the Atlantean Arrow's nearest detachment, located in Ipswich, to mobilize. There are fifty arrow in that detachment. Maybe not immortals, but it's all the service I can actually give right now! I wish I could come personally, but things have... escalated. If I leave now, the alliance would fall apart. Otherwise I would get on a redeye right now and head over. I'm glad that all of you are still alive, such as it is. I need to work on mastering space... then maybe I could heal Ricky right now without even being there. I can't do that, though. I know none of you are children out there - you can handle yourselves just fine. It just sucks when your friends need help and you can't do anything. In case the Arrow don't get there in time, the Zeus can only be fired by humans, though they need not have any magic. Other races like Ghouls will also be able to operate it, but someone like Ricky will not be able to fire it. It was designed as a weapon against the other races, after all. Also, it uses the mana inherent in one's own pattern to fire, so it causes painful burns that magic cannot heal. Just be wary when using it. The Arrow were a little /too/ eager to get rid of it when I asked they send it your way, so I suspect there may be more to it.
The Arrow have orders to leave at your request, though they will remain with you so long as you deem necessary to stabilize the situation. They would probably be able to close the portal Austin opened, though they might not. I guess you'll know soon enough. I'm sorry I could not do more. I hate having all these resources I can't do anything with!
Lizzie, I can't wait to see you again. We have lots to talk about. It sucks your investigations didn't turn up anything, but at least those cultists didn't wake up Cthulhu. If that happens, we're screwed. All of us. There won't be any time to run from the universe at that point, we're just screwed. Speaking of which... I feel bad talking philosophically while you all are in danger... but I suppose if you're reading this than you're okay, and there's no more reason to worry. So I'm going to write all this on the assumption that everyone makes it out okay. Because if you don‘t... then Austin's right. The Elements of Harmony won't work without all of us.
First Austin, I'm not sure that you understand what I'm saying when I say there can't be diplomacy with the old ones. They can talk well enough, if we discovered how they did. But like you said, they think so lowly of us that they wouldn't be willing to change their motives because of us. This earth is theirs in their mind, and us the accident thanks to the Elder Things and their experiments with genetics. But you know what... I don't care if we're an accident, even if all that stuff's true. There is a Supernal truth that is just as real. I know that faith isn't something any of you have anymore, but... There IS more to this reality! Even if in their version of the truth they're higher and better than us, and us the mold on their sandwich. And I'm going to prove it. Do you know how? Lizzie isn't going to like this. But I will explain. I will prove that the supernal reality is more real than the abyss.
I know there is only one way to prove it. That's exactly the way I'm going to do it, though. I am going to prove that the supernal isn't just equally valid in that the magic works, because that's a fact. We know the magic works. But think about this - if the Abyss can be rewritten with the magic of the Supernal, than why not rewrite /all/ of it? Outsiders, Cthulhu, the whole bit. We'll replace it. Here is how I will prove it.
Remember Rami? I do. She started all of this, after all. I think in learning the true nature of the abyss, I have discovered the way to bring her back. The First Words - the words of the Master. I know what they are! "Arise!" I don't care if she's been dragged out into who knows what god-forsaken corner of some higher dimension... the Master's words will bring her back. Lazarus, come forth! This is why I want to visit the Library, you see. The Master's magic died with him, all those years ago. But all dead thoughts are there, all dead knowledge. I'm going to find it, and bring her back! What then? Think on it, friends! Forget negotiating with the abyss! We'll write the Book of Night with Moon, and read it in the face of the monsters! Read them all out of existence! I'm done accepting defeat anymore. I'm done acknowledging that their way of reality is the truth. It isn't. I saw the awful truth outside the universe, but I also met an archmaster. I met the wings of the Aether. Enoch may be the wings, but I will be the fist. Together, we will end it! NO more accepting that they're greater and better and more powerful and all of that - they aren't! They’re different, not better! Our magic is better than theirs, because we've got one thing they don't - a soul. Darrel went talking about how magic works, how mages like me channel the Supernal. That's how we do it - our souls. The Deep Ones don't have them. Cthulhu doesn't either, I'm willing to bet. We're alien to them just as they are to us. That's why they hate us so much! We have a light they'll never understand! These random little mutations somehow ended up shaped to capture a spark of the supernal, a world they cannot ever touch.
I'm sorry for ranting. I think I'm done. I'm just frustrated right now. I don't blame you for not making it this month, Liz. I know you'd be here if you could. And when you get here, we shall take the knowledge we need, and bring Ramira back.
You could say this last month had a little good and a little bad news. Guess who showed up? One of the Ministers of the Seers of the Throne, that's who. He came to us, totally unannounced, along with this huge diplomatic detachment from their Order. Here I didn't even think they were real... He had some surprising news - on behalf of his order, the Exarchs, and everything else he represented... he was joining our alliance. "Earth's true kings" as he called them, had come out in support of our effort to maintain reality. They’re pretty much the most evil mages there are, I thought, but... not so, I suppose. They can't oppress our world if there's no world to oppress. You should have seen the uproar when he announced who he was. But I kept everything calm, and got all the nitty-gritty of the alliances ironed out. The Arrow was pissed, but... in the end, even they had to admit that it made sense.
Only problem, is the Seers aren't a unified organization, but a terrorist-like group of disparate cells. A large number of those cells have risen up in resistance, and are now actively fighting their other Seer cells wherever they are. They call themselves Purists, and claim that... get this... the Outsiders /are/ the Exarchs. So if you ever encounter any mages that want to kill you, that's probably who they are. I don't know if you've heard, but their little war has already decimated Rome, and it's spreading all across eastern Europe, where the Seers were apparently most concentrated. So that's just Geeeereat. There's now a Minister on the High Council. One Minister, one Adrinach, and one General. Oh, and me. Interesting company to keep. We've already had to deal with several attempts at bombing of the building since then... brainwashed humans both times - they're fine now so far as I know. I can't stress enough that these Purists are more dangerous than any cultists. The Seers are puppeteers, they work through others and use subtle magic. They are patient, and they have power ordinary mages lack. Keep your eyes out. But we gained some allies, too! Can't say I trust them /less/ than Scientology, I guess.
((Oh, so 5 points, because this entry has a WORLD EVENT! But End, the short stories would be for January's entry. They would not be letters, and the other characters would not see what was in them. You might include the usual letter in the story, if you want your character to write one, though no extra points if you do.))
World Event: Hundreds killed in Rome by "terrorist action" and "gang warfare". The city has been surrounded by Italy's armed services, who have as of yet not allowed anyone in or out. All flights canceled.
The Arrow have orders to leave at your request, though they will remain with you so long as you deem necessary to stabilize the situation. They would probably be able to close the portal Austin opened, though they might not. I guess you'll know soon enough. I'm sorry I could not do more. I hate having all these resources I can't do anything with!
Lizzie, I can't wait to see you again. We have lots to talk about. It sucks your investigations didn't turn up anything, but at least those cultists didn't wake up Cthulhu. If that happens, we're screwed. All of us. There won't be any time to run from the universe at that point, we're just screwed. Speaking of which... I feel bad talking philosophically while you all are in danger... but I suppose if you're reading this than you're okay, and there's no more reason to worry. So I'm going to write all this on the assumption that everyone makes it out okay. Because if you don‘t... then Austin's right. The Elements of Harmony won't work without all of us.
First Austin, I'm not sure that you understand what I'm saying when I say there can't be diplomacy with the old ones. They can talk well enough, if we discovered how they did. But like you said, they think so lowly of us that they wouldn't be willing to change their motives because of us. This earth is theirs in their mind, and us the accident thanks to the Elder Things and their experiments with genetics. But you know what... I don't care if we're an accident, even if all that stuff's true. There is a Supernal truth that is just as real. I know that faith isn't something any of you have anymore, but... There IS more to this reality! Even if in their version of the truth they're higher and better than us, and us the mold on their sandwich. And I'm going to prove it. Do you know how? Lizzie isn't going to like this. But I will explain. I will prove that the supernal reality is more real than the abyss.
I know there is only one way to prove it. That's exactly the way I'm going to do it, though. I am going to prove that the supernal isn't just equally valid in that the magic works, because that's a fact. We know the magic works. But think about this - if the Abyss can be rewritten with the magic of the Supernal, than why not rewrite /all/ of it? Outsiders, Cthulhu, the whole bit. We'll replace it. Here is how I will prove it.
Remember Rami? I do. She started all of this, after all. I think in learning the true nature of the abyss, I have discovered the way to bring her back. The First Words - the words of the Master. I know what they are! "Arise!" I don't care if she's been dragged out into who knows what god-forsaken corner of some higher dimension... the Master's words will bring her back. Lazarus, come forth! This is why I want to visit the Library, you see. The Master's magic died with him, all those years ago. But all dead thoughts are there, all dead knowledge. I'm going to find it, and bring her back! What then? Think on it, friends! Forget negotiating with the abyss! We'll write the Book of Night with Moon, and read it in the face of the monsters! Read them all out of existence! I'm done accepting defeat anymore. I'm done acknowledging that their way of reality is the truth. It isn't. I saw the awful truth outside the universe, but I also met an archmaster. I met the wings of the Aether. Enoch may be the wings, but I will be the fist. Together, we will end it! NO more accepting that they're greater and better and more powerful and all of that - they aren't! They’re different, not better! Our magic is better than theirs, because we've got one thing they don't - a soul. Darrel went talking about how magic works, how mages like me channel the Supernal. That's how we do it - our souls. The Deep Ones don't have them. Cthulhu doesn't either, I'm willing to bet. We're alien to them just as they are to us. That's why they hate us so much! We have a light they'll never understand! These random little mutations somehow ended up shaped to capture a spark of the supernal, a world they cannot ever touch.
I'm sorry for ranting. I think I'm done. I'm just frustrated right now. I don't blame you for not making it this month, Liz. I know you'd be here if you could. And when you get here, we shall take the knowledge we need, and bring Ramira back.
You could say this last month had a little good and a little bad news. Guess who showed up? One of the Ministers of the Seers of the Throne, that's who. He came to us, totally unannounced, along with this huge diplomatic detachment from their Order. Here I didn't even think they were real... He had some surprising news - on behalf of his order, the Exarchs, and everything else he represented... he was joining our alliance. "Earth's true kings" as he called them, had come out in support of our effort to maintain reality. They’re pretty much the most evil mages there are, I thought, but... not so, I suppose. They can't oppress our world if there's no world to oppress. You should have seen the uproar when he announced who he was. But I kept everything calm, and got all the nitty-gritty of the alliances ironed out. The Arrow was pissed, but... in the end, even they had to admit that it made sense.
Only problem, is the Seers aren't a unified organization, but a terrorist-like group of disparate cells. A large number of those cells have risen up in resistance, and are now actively fighting their other Seer cells wherever they are. They call themselves Purists, and claim that... get this... the Outsiders /are/ the Exarchs. So if you ever encounter any mages that want to kill you, that's probably who they are. I don't know if you've heard, but their little war has already decimated Rome, and it's spreading all across eastern Europe, where the Seers were apparently most concentrated. So that's just Geeeereat. There's now a Minister on the High Council. One Minister, one Adrinach, and one General. Oh, and me. Interesting company to keep. We've already had to deal with several attempts at bombing of the building since then... brainwashed humans both times - they're fine now so far as I know. I can't stress enough that these Purists are more dangerous than any cultists. The Seers are puppeteers, they work through others and use subtle magic. They are patient, and they have power ordinary mages lack. Keep your eyes out. But we gained some allies, too! Can't say I trust them /less/ than Scientology, I guess.
((Oh, so 5 points, because this entry has a WORLD EVENT! But End, the short stories would be for January's entry. They would not be letters, and the other characters would not see what was in them. You might include the usual letter in the story, if you want your character to write one, though no extra points if you do.))
World Event: Hundreds killed in Rome by "terrorist action" and "gang warfare". The city has been surrounded by Italy's armed services, who have as of yet not allowed anyone in or out. All flights canceled.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Lizzie's Entry for September 2012
((Another 3 exp points. At this rate, I'll evolve at least once by the end of the RP.))
Hey guys, sorry for not getting around to this sooner. I've been getting ready to head over to visit Kris. I don't have too much to pack, but I did want to make one final push to solve the mystery out here. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to impressive to report. Looks like it was just some stupid cultist wannabes that didn't know how to properly summon Cthulhu or something, so they ended up just tearing a hole in the universe. As far as we can tell, they didn't manage to penetrate out into the void, so we don't have to worry about anything like that coming through, but we're gonna keep a few small ships posted in case there's anything from any of the other realms coming through.
But oh my god, I'm not even talking about the important stuff here. Amelia, contact me as soon as possible once you and Rick are safe. I wish I could send some help your way, but I have no idea where the four of you are specifically, and by the time I found out, it would be too late for better or worse. Hopefully you'll be able to get Rick to safety and hopefully Darrel and Austin won't kill themselves facing off against whatever else is down there.
At any rate, I'm not sure if I'll make it to Kris' new place before my next chance to write anyone. The usual paths through the Underworld have been getting more and more volatile with the increasing violence and chaos up here. I might have to travel by more traditional means, and that involves either relying on Japan's unstable economic situations or getting a ride on one of the Dim Suns' ships. In the case of the latter, that means going with them on their normal operations until they get to the port I want. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.
Well, with my life seeming to be far less interesting than any of yours, I'll go ahead and end this here. Be safe everyone. I know you all far too well, so I know just how much a pain it'd be to put any of your ghosts to rest. More importantly, I know death better than any of you, and I have to say, living is so much better.
-Lizzie T. O'Conner
Hey guys, sorry for not getting around to this sooner. I've been getting ready to head over to visit Kris. I don't have too much to pack, but I did want to make one final push to solve the mystery out here. Unfortunately, I don't have anything to impressive to report. Looks like it was just some stupid cultist wannabes that didn't know how to properly summon Cthulhu or something, so they ended up just tearing a hole in the universe. As far as we can tell, they didn't manage to penetrate out into the void, so we don't have to worry about anything like that coming through, but we're gonna keep a few small ships posted in case there's anything from any of the other realms coming through.
But oh my god, I'm not even talking about the important stuff here. Amelia, contact me as soon as possible once you and Rick are safe. I wish I could send some help your way, but I have no idea where the four of you are specifically, and by the time I found out, it would be too late for better or worse. Hopefully you'll be able to get Rick to safety and hopefully Darrel and Austin won't kill themselves facing off against whatever else is down there.
At any rate, I'm not sure if I'll make it to Kris' new place before my next chance to write anyone. The usual paths through the Underworld have been getting more and more volatile with the increasing violence and chaos up here. I might have to travel by more traditional means, and that involves either relying on Japan's unstable economic situations or getting a ride on one of the Dim Suns' ships. In the case of the latter, that means going with them on their normal operations until they get to the port I want. Oh well, I'm sure it'll be worth the wait.
Well, with my life seeming to be far less interesting than any of yours, I'll go ahead and end this here. Be safe everyone. I know you all far too well, so I know just how much a pain it'd be to put any of your ghosts to rest. More importantly, I know death better than any of you, and I have to say, living is so much better.
-Lizzie T. O'Conner
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Rick's Amelia's Entry for September 2012
(( 4pts: 1 for being on time, 1 for progressing the main plot, 1 for a bit of mention of what the others are doing and 1 for the subplot. ))
Hello? Hello? Is this thing working? Hello?
I hope so! I hope I'm not getting into anything I shouldn't here, but I really need help! Ricky is... not well right now! He's stable for now, but who knows for how long!
Ok, Amy, calm down, take a deep breathe... you gotta stay strong and calm, or else we won't make it.
Oh God, it wrote this down?!? How do I delete...crap... craap! Sorry!
No biggie, really, it's only a few thoughts being openly broadcasted to everyone. Gotta focus on what happened...
So... I... we... deep breathe deep breathe... so we came down here to the States on that cool plane, really good flight service by the way, and we arrived in this... dump... sorry Rick, I didn't want to insult your country! It's just... everything looks so broken and ewww... I thought Toronto had it bad, but you guys have it awwwwful, 'eh? I bet China is better... I totally didn't say that, sorry!
So we came down here to help this Austin guy, really sweet guy, hospitable... when you don't argue with him. I swear, I thought I was seeing some snotty Army General when we argued a bit with that other guy... the werewolf... who was totally trying to piss us off with his non-sequitur sentences and his... scent. Bath. Bath! Always take a bath and stay clean! Something Ricko should improve on... I mean... aww.. sorry! It's just something you don't smell very good and it's a bit of a turn-off and...
...
...you totally didn't see that. Close your eyes and forget! Or... brain. Shut your brain off. Or... something... geeze, this thing no sense at all... I mean, you hold this stone and just... stare into that thing... some weird magic at work here. I don't have much of it... I can communicate with foxes, but everyone can do that, eh?
Okkkk, getting sidetracked here, sorry, it's just so weird and embarrassing. I don't even know who you guys are, and it's all Magicky and Rick is laying unconscious right next to me... maybe we shouldn't have come here. Maybe he wouldn't be so...
God, I hoooope he doesn't die! What a dumb idea, going down into that dumb cave with that dumb werewolves in this dumb country in this dumb town! Dumb dumb dumb! I wasn't any better, what an idiot, "Oh look Rick, look at that thing over there, it's so shiny!" What do you know, a minute later, there's a cave in, and Rick got injured by falling rocks and I'm here, talking to a rock! Or with a rock, or gem, or magic. This is so crazy! I did the best I could, I bandaged his leg, and made sure he wasn't like, dying, but what now? I've looked around this cave for anything useful for escape... no, nothing. If I was looking for a creepy place with a feeling of gloom and doom, I would have found jackpot. The air around here... the pressure... the walls... the deeper I went, the more alien it felt. I don't know how to explain it... the natural caves ended and I landed in some kind of temple, it looked indian, but at the same time, not really. Like a place of cult. It reeked too! There was that large circle in the stone, made out of stone, its rim surrounded by strange symbols, like those in those books Rick has about ancient cults of magic. I took a picture with my phone, but I doubt it can be transferred in text, I'm going to try to think them in here.
[A random sequence of Atlantean words follow, seemingly just being random symbols to Amelia]
Wow...! It worked... whatever it is I did there... I hope it helps you guys! But wait, I'm the one who need help here! Creepy or not, there doesn't seem to be a way up through that temple, and there's still a bloacade of rocks and Rick is still unsconcious! Good thing I have food and water for like a week on me, you're never too prepared! If Rick wasn't so lifeless, I would so tell him 'I told you!'!
But... he is, and I hope he wakes up soon. Or that we find some exit. Or that this thing gives us some answers. I'm sorry I'm not really talking about what you guys are doing, I would, but they're not giving me help at the moment! I do have one little thing to say, though... Lizzie and Christian, you should... you know... duh! There's electricity in the air, is all I can say. ;) Rawr!
-Amelia
PS: Help!!! Sorry to be bothering, again!
Monday, September 10, 2012
Austin's entry for the month of September
Oh thank god... ohhhh yes, I was starting to wonder whether I'd get reception right now. Radio's dead. But that's entanglement, for you. Anyway, everyone please pay attention, we may need help. I'm currently stuck with Darrel in the dungeons beneath Arkham city. There was a very big collapse while we were poking around. Ricky and Amelia were with us too but not anymore, and we don't know what happened to them. I'm hoping he'll see this and SOUND OFF RIGHT NOW. I'm told the elements of harmony won't work without him.
Now besides Ricky potentially being dead I get the feeling this sinkhole might have opened all the way up to the surface. Pray that hasn't happened, please. Who knows how much of the base it could have taken with it, and anyway we don't want that attention. We'll be absolutely fucked if the police find out about us down here. I do know that June and company are alive. But now in the meantime I'm trapped in the dark with this loveable fleabag with my pockets full of roast beef sandwiches, NONE of which have enough mayo. AND I've got a plane to catch in a few days.
Anyway. Anyway. Anyway. We're going to do our best. In the meantime, holy crap Chris, thank you! I wish there was some way I could get a look at it right now. I do NOT like the idea of that just sitting there. I'm imagining it'll need a crew. Not sure what we'll do with it, but just having it will be fantastic. Ancestors beckon we, nearer our gods to thee. I was gonna' be mad at you for a while, but now I think I'll put that off for a few months. Still I wasn't expecting YOU to come over all defeatist. I'd rather die than see western civilization end.
At any rate institutionalism must survive; it doesn't even really matter what institutions, I think. That's why I've been so happy to be at the mercy of the Scientologists, of all people. The religion, I've gathered, is mostly just a front and a scam. Sea Org on the other hand is legit. They've got all kinds working for them. Speaking of, they disagree with you, Chris. I've talked to some of them about diplomacy and they told me that's the plan. They want to expose constructs with rudimentary intelligence to articles from the void, and then use them as translators, instruments and what-not. The constructs, that is.
I simply refuse to accept that diplomatic solution is impossible. These are not lesser beings than us, they're greater than us. There's more to them than there is to us. Perhaps we'll never be able to understand them but it must be possible for they to understand us. And only a few hours ago one of their spiritual constructs actually SPOKE to us for a moment.
The real obstacle to communication is how small we are. It's like... if you discovered your forehead was giving birth to a microscopic civilization, would that stop you from showering? Not me. The outsiders know about us but they can't be asked to look out for us. We're too small, it wouldn't be worth it for them. We're so comparatively insignificant and remote it'd be like... avoiding walking on the off chance you might crush an invisible microbial society. This is something we've got to change, obviously. One way or the other. If we can empathize with them somehow, they might help. And if that means sacrificing ourselves to an extent in order to become vaster, greater, perhaps it would be worth it.
But don't take me for some Benedict Arnold. Y'all are the defeatists here, not me. Unlike some I consider ALL my options. Oh yes, you mentioned lord Yog-sothoth. It's a bit premature but my instincts are telling me this temple was dedicated to him. I'm familiar with some of the symbolism related to him, and it's on the walls here and there. The other stuff I don't know, but it's not Cthulhu cult. It makes sense, since for most of the cult's history it was propagated by Africans and this place looks like it might have been transplanted from somewhere in eastern Europe during the 15hundreds.
Anyway, I'm not saying ancient aliens stole the titties, but the clues here indicate they did. Prayer and optimism for all our sakes down here would be put to good use. Hail.
A.A. Merit
(3 points)
Now besides Ricky potentially being dead I get the feeling this sinkhole might have opened all the way up to the surface. Pray that hasn't happened, please. Who knows how much of the base it could have taken with it, and anyway we don't want that attention. We'll be absolutely fucked if the police find out about us down here. I do know that June and company are alive. But now in the meantime I'm trapped in the dark with this loveable fleabag with my pockets full of roast beef sandwiches, NONE of which have enough mayo. AND I've got a plane to catch in a few days.
Anyway. Anyway. Anyway. We're going to do our best. In the meantime, holy crap Chris, thank you! I wish there was some way I could get a look at it right now. I do NOT like the idea of that just sitting there. I'm imagining it'll need a crew. Not sure what we'll do with it, but just having it will be fantastic. Ancestors beckon we, nearer our gods to thee. I was gonna' be mad at you for a while, but now I think I'll put that off for a few months. Still I wasn't expecting YOU to come over all defeatist. I'd rather die than see western civilization end.
At any rate institutionalism must survive; it doesn't even really matter what institutions, I think. That's why I've been so happy to be at the mercy of the Scientologists, of all people. The religion, I've gathered, is mostly just a front and a scam. Sea Org on the other hand is legit. They've got all kinds working for them. Speaking of, they disagree with you, Chris. I've talked to some of them about diplomacy and they told me that's the plan. They want to expose constructs with rudimentary intelligence to articles from the void, and then use them as translators, instruments and what-not. The constructs, that is.
I simply refuse to accept that diplomatic solution is impossible. These are not lesser beings than us, they're greater than us. There's more to them than there is to us. Perhaps we'll never be able to understand them but it must be possible for they to understand us. And only a few hours ago one of their spiritual constructs actually SPOKE to us for a moment.
The real obstacle to communication is how small we are. It's like... if you discovered your forehead was giving birth to a microscopic civilization, would that stop you from showering? Not me. The outsiders know about us but they can't be asked to look out for us. We're too small, it wouldn't be worth it for them. We're so comparatively insignificant and remote it'd be like... avoiding walking on the off chance you might crush an invisible microbial society. This is something we've got to change, obviously. One way or the other. If we can empathize with them somehow, they might help. And if that means sacrificing ourselves to an extent in order to become vaster, greater, perhaps it would be worth it.
But don't take me for some Benedict Arnold. Y'all are the defeatists here, not me. Unlike some I consider ALL my options. Oh yes, you mentioned lord Yog-sothoth. It's a bit premature but my instincts are telling me this temple was dedicated to him. I'm familiar with some of the symbolism related to him, and it's on the walls here and there. The other stuff I don't know, but it's not Cthulhu cult. It makes sense, since for most of the cult's history it was propagated by Africans and this place looks like it might have been transplanted from somewhere in eastern Europe during the 15hundreds.
Anyway, I'm not saying ancient aliens stole the titties, but the clues here indicate they did. Prayer and optimism for all our sakes down here would be put to good use. Hail.
A.A. Merit
(3 points)
Saturday, September 8, 2012
Christian's Entry for September 2012
((3 Points, one point off for late. Still people haven’t said anything about the short story idea for the year mark. If there are no objections in people’s OCC for this month, I’ll assume everyone loves the idea and that is what we will do for the January entry. Which is honestly just fine with me, because I really would like to do the short story idea.))
Hello everyone. Christian coming to you again from the Twin Dragons hotel on 10 Capital. You might very justly ask what I’m still doing here while all of you are struggling to survive in your various near-war-zones. Honestly I am almost as surprised as you are that I am still here, and even more so that Asia has remained so stable in the wake of all that is going on. You would be surprised to hear that the bosses of organized crime are the ones keeping everyone in check. I'm pretty sure at least Kazamagi (of the Yakuza) is a vampire, and probably several more of the other leaders we aren’t sure of. They do a very good job keeping the streets clear. I have seen the chaos in the united states: All those little wilderness towns turned into war grounds. Hundreds of lives lost on the sidelines, but not here. Here when the police are too afraid to do anything about something, the Yakuza are not. I suspect they have been dealing effectively with for a great many years. There is already an intimate understanding between them and the Mages here, so they do leave us alone. The situation is stable. I say stable, but in reality, it is far more than stable. But before I go into detail about the efforts of my fellows, I will talk about what has happened to all of you.
Austin, I’m sorry to say things have come to blows with the Free Council down there. I have always loved them and their ideals, and as we speak we are negotiating a tentative allegiance between the Silver Ladder and the Free Council, the most adversarial pairing of spellcasters in the world. This is the most critical juncture of the unification, because on some level the other orders already /are/ united under the leadership of the Silver ladder, though the bonds are only symbolic in most parts of the world. Still, if we can get that odd body to fix within the mix, that would be absolutely ideal. I think it's possible. President Layton is a very open-minded man. But I‘m getting ahead of myself. If we truly are the tumor of the universe, the unnatural growth, I see no reason that we should not struggle with equal energy for survival.
We CANNOT negotiate with the Outside, Austin. whatever else you might believe, you really must understand that simply cannot happen. You are looking at them within the context of human sanity. You must strip away your assumptions about what sapient life is. They do not understand communication as we do. Remember those friends? They are fundamentally alien to us. The only way we could have succeeded was discovering and conforming to their ideas of communication and power. This is the only way we could communicate with the Outside. It would mean giving in to all their desires for us. Becoming utterly mad and subservient. That is the only communication they understand. To me this is unacceptable. It is a good idea, but not good enough. Really what we need to do is... somehow distance ourselves from the greater multiverse. I think we can agree that trying to vanquish a near invincible foe in a world far greater than our own is not feasible. But somehow I suspect that they would be unable to do anything to attack our universe as a whole. Honestly I don‘t think they would even care to, if we had somehow banished them all. If we could do that... that is the answer.
Ricky - I‘m glad you've decided to take action and get into the fight. I wish you well in your attempt to pick up magical learning. I would offer to tutor you, but somehow I don't think that we are considering the same types of magic. Another one of those mysteries I guess, all the different abilities? different sources. I do not know what can be done to unify our ideas about how all this stuff works, but... I wonder. Just how different is my magic than the spiritual gifts of werewolves, really? Or... what you do, or Lizzy, or... so Ricky, the Void is not the higher dimension, but the people from it. "people" here used very liberally. They are not the whole multiverse, just citizens from it. Probably from their own universes at one point, who developed or simply had the ability to travel between, that's my guess. We don’t have to "kill" them, and trying to do that is stupid. If we can just banish them from our universe, that would be all we had to do. So long as we could somehow stop them from waltzing right back in again. Therein lies the challenge. The universe is an awful big place, how can we patrol the whole thing at once? I think it would take powers I sure don't have. Do you? Of course none of us does. I feel like I‘m writing the Outcast again, but really the only way to "beat" than is to change the structure of the universe so they can't get in again. And I suppose if we did, we would have to kill any of them that weren't out at that moment, or else they'd run around ruining our universe like a cat stuck in a very tiny box. How would you feel if you were in a tiny box, Ricky? Inside opinion there. (rimshot)
You have a very valid question Darrel. Why aren't the Gods helping us since it's their world that is in jeopardy too? I think in some ways the answer is twofold. Allow me to explain. First, we must accept the following rules:
1. The Godlike Spirits desire to survive.
2. They have the intelligence to realize the destruction of the material means their end.
3. They have the ability to render aid in their defense.
Given those facts, we must realize that they are, in fact, helping us as directly as they can. Chances are, they are being somehow prevented. There is a Spiritual outsider, Yog-Sothoth, who I imagine is greatly restricting their ability to help. I‘m sure you know that the Shadow is as much a battlefield right now as our world, and the battle is only just getting started. How much worse might things get before the end? Somehow I have faith that the greater spirits are doing all they can, and are probably saving their resources for the moment when their aid will be most useful. Like the night we fought Cthulhu. we had their help then, and I suspect we will have it again.
So you all will no doubt want to know what has been happening here. Things have not been easy, though I suspect they have been easier for me than for any of you. It might be a luxury hotel, but that does not mean living here does not come with its own dangers. The foremost on my mind is assassination. Unlike many of the other races, the Mages have a system in place that someone might actually use to unite them. This is why I took the vow in the first place. I wish it meant that I would be in some sort of leadership position, but things are not so simple. The combination of my position among our company and someone of high standing in the Master’s order means that people must let me sit in council with them, and by extension, makes me someone who would help orchestrate the unity of orders in the awakened nation. A noble goal at any moment in history, but now the completion of the goal is critical. I’m sure you all can see the signs that I see. It is perfectly clear to me that this present situation is going to culminate with the dissolution of all the earthly powers currently existent. Austin, I somehow doubt any action from you will be required to bring it about. When that happens, we will be grateful for every friend, we have when, the time comes. Somehow I doubt that your spontaneous ideal anarchy is going to develop in the environment that we'll find at the end of western civilization.
Lizzie, I look forward to your arrival: The suite has two bedrooms! And yes, I am still single. No, those two statements are not related. I’m not the least bit surprised that you’ve got your own team: for better or worse each and every one of us is meant to be leaders within our own domains, such as they are.
As for my own efforts, I have been diligently engaged in the forging of alliances between the orders of the Awakened. So far only two of the orders have answered the call: The Silver Ladder who is obligated to heed my council by their own law, and the Arrow, who has I very much suspect been waiting for any valid excuse to martial for war. As we speak that marshaling has begun! I have requested that some of those resources be provided to you, Austin. I did not know how to find you, so look into the basement of that hotel you told Rick about. I have ordered an interesting relic be transferred there, and by the time you read this, it should have arrived. It‘s basically an Atlantean anti-aircraft gun, meant for large targets. Use it how you see fit, but do not test it on anyone you like. In the Arrow it is called the Fist of Zeus - a name not undeserved from what I hear.
As to the rest of you: Keep the faith. I look forward to correspondence with you soon. Enjoy your party together.
PS: Rick, you have no right to complain about bad memories about Lizzie! You dumped her, remember! That is all.
Hello everyone. Christian coming to you again from the Twin Dragons hotel on 10 Capital. You might very justly ask what I’m still doing here while all of you are struggling to survive in your various near-war-zones. Honestly I am almost as surprised as you are that I am still here, and even more so that Asia has remained so stable in the wake of all that is going on. You would be surprised to hear that the bosses of organized crime are the ones keeping everyone in check. I'm pretty sure at least Kazamagi (of the Yakuza) is a vampire, and probably several more of the other leaders we aren’t sure of. They do a very good job keeping the streets clear. I have seen the chaos in the united states: All those little wilderness towns turned into war grounds. Hundreds of lives lost on the sidelines, but not here. Here when the police are too afraid to do anything about something, the Yakuza are not. I suspect they have been dealing effectively with for a great many years. There is already an intimate understanding between them and the Mages here, so they do leave us alone. The situation is stable. I say stable, but in reality, it is far more than stable. But before I go into detail about the efforts of my fellows, I will talk about what has happened to all of you.
Austin, I’m sorry to say things have come to blows with the Free Council down there. I have always loved them and their ideals, and as we speak we are negotiating a tentative allegiance between the Silver Ladder and the Free Council, the most adversarial pairing of spellcasters in the world. This is the most critical juncture of the unification, because on some level the other orders already /are/ united under the leadership of the Silver ladder, though the bonds are only symbolic in most parts of the world. Still, if we can get that odd body to fix within the mix, that would be absolutely ideal. I think it's possible. President Layton is a very open-minded man. But I‘m getting ahead of myself. If we truly are the tumor of the universe, the unnatural growth, I see no reason that we should not struggle with equal energy for survival.
We CANNOT negotiate with the Outside, Austin. whatever else you might believe, you really must understand that simply cannot happen. You are looking at them within the context of human sanity. You must strip away your assumptions about what sapient life is. They do not understand communication as we do. Remember those friends? They are fundamentally alien to us. The only way we could have succeeded was discovering and conforming to their ideas of communication and power. This is the only way we could communicate with the Outside. It would mean giving in to all their desires for us. Becoming utterly mad and subservient. That is the only communication they understand. To me this is unacceptable. It is a good idea, but not good enough. Really what we need to do is... somehow distance ourselves from the greater multiverse. I think we can agree that trying to vanquish a near invincible foe in a world far greater than our own is not feasible. But somehow I suspect that they would be unable to do anything to attack our universe as a whole. Honestly I don‘t think they would even care to, if we had somehow banished them all. If we could do that... that is the answer.
Ricky - I‘m glad you've decided to take action and get into the fight. I wish you well in your attempt to pick up magical learning. I would offer to tutor you, but somehow I don't think that we are considering the same types of magic. Another one of those mysteries I guess, all the different abilities? different sources. I do not know what can be done to unify our ideas about how all this stuff works, but... I wonder. Just how different is my magic than the spiritual gifts of werewolves, really? Or... what you do, or Lizzy, or... so Ricky, the Void is not the higher dimension, but the people from it. "people" here used very liberally. They are not the whole multiverse, just citizens from it. Probably from their own universes at one point, who developed or simply had the ability to travel between, that's my guess. We don’t have to "kill" them, and trying to do that is stupid. If we can just banish them from our universe, that would be all we had to do. So long as we could somehow stop them from waltzing right back in again. Therein lies the challenge. The universe is an awful big place, how can we patrol the whole thing at once? I think it would take powers I sure don't have. Do you? Of course none of us does. I feel like I‘m writing the Outcast again, but really the only way to "beat" than is to change the structure of the universe so they can't get in again. And I suppose if we did, we would have to kill any of them that weren't out at that moment, or else they'd run around ruining our universe like a cat stuck in a very tiny box. How would you feel if you were in a tiny box, Ricky? Inside opinion there. (rimshot)
You have a very valid question Darrel. Why aren't the Gods helping us since it's their world that is in jeopardy too? I think in some ways the answer is twofold. Allow me to explain. First, we must accept the following rules:
1. The Godlike Spirits desire to survive.
2. They have the intelligence to realize the destruction of the material means their end.
3. They have the ability to render aid in their defense.
Given those facts, we must realize that they are, in fact, helping us as directly as they can. Chances are, they are being somehow prevented. There is a Spiritual outsider, Yog-Sothoth, who I imagine is greatly restricting their ability to help. I‘m sure you know that the Shadow is as much a battlefield right now as our world, and the battle is only just getting started. How much worse might things get before the end? Somehow I have faith that the greater spirits are doing all they can, and are probably saving their resources for the moment when their aid will be most useful. Like the night we fought Cthulhu. we had their help then, and I suspect we will have it again.
So you all will no doubt want to know what has been happening here. Things have not been easy, though I suspect they have been easier for me than for any of you. It might be a luxury hotel, but that does not mean living here does not come with its own dangers. The foremost on my mind is assassination. Unlike many of the other races, the Mages have a system in place that someone might actually use to unite them. This is why I took the vow in the first place. I wish it meant that I would be in some sort of leadership position, but things are not so simple. The combination of my position among our company and someone of high standing in the Master’s order means that people must let me sit in council with them, and by extension, makes me someone who would help orchestrate the unity of orders in the awakened nation. A noble goal at any moment in history, but now the completion of the goal is critical. I’m sure you all can see the signs that I see. It is perfectly clear to me that this present situation is going to culminate with the dissolution of all the earthly powers currently existent. Austin, I somehow doubt any action from you will be required to bring it about. When that happens, we will be grateful for every friend, we have when, the time comes. Somehow I doubt that your spontaneous ideal anarchy is going to develop in the environment that we'll find at the end of western civilization.
Lizzie, I look forward to your arrival: The suite has two bedrooms! And yes, I am still single. No, those two statements are not related. I’m not the least bit surprised that you’ve got your own team: for better or worse each and every one of us is meant to be leaders within our own domains, such as they are.
As for my own efforts, I have been diligently engaged in the forging of alliances between the orders of the Awakened. So far only two of the orders have answered the call: The Silver Ladder who is obligated to heed my council by their own law, and the Arrow, who has I very much suspect been waiting for any valid excuse to martial for war. As we speak that marshaling has begun! I have requested that some of those resources be provided to you, Austin. I did not know how to find you, so look into the basement of that hotel you told Rick about. I have ordered an interesting relic be transferred there, and by the time you read this, it should have arrived. It‘s basically an Atlantean anti-aircraft gun, meant for large targets. Use it how you see fit, but do not test it on anyone you like. In the Arrow it is called the Fist of Zeus - a name not undeserved from what I hear.
As to the rest of you: Keep the faith. I look forward to correspondence with you soon. Enjoy your party together.
PS: Rick, you have no right to complain about bad memories about Lizzie! You dumped her, remember! That is all.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Lizzie's Entry for August 2012
((Almost forgot. 3 exp probably, sure.))
Hey all! Sorry about not keeping in touch better. You think I'd have gotten more free time after dying, but it turns out it's not really the case. ;p Regardless, things have been steadily progressing out here on the ocean, hence my aforementioned lack of free time. Don't worry, though, I've been getting your messages fine and totally plan on reading them when I get the chance. Anyways, I got to get back to my work. I'll be sure to talk more next month. Take care, all!
-Lizzie T. O'Connor
Ug, I can't remember how to erase previous lines on this stupid magi-tech typewriter. Anyways, Ari (she's the non-Sin-Eater with us I mentioned before) guilted me into writing more. So... maybe I exaggerated about how little time I have. I have plenty of chances I could write, but it's hard to want to when I'm out in the ocean like this and there's so many things I can do to entertain myself. Er... I won't bore you with the details.
Annnnyways, I think part of the reason that I’ve been avoiding your letters is because I’ve been trying to not think about all the horrible stuff you guys are going through. I mean, just looking at these entries make me shiver. Being chased by the void? After everything you’ve already been through, that doesn’t seem like much of a reward. And everyone else, uh... visiting Austin. Like I said, all sorts of horrible things I’d rather not hear about. But... I promise to read everyone’s letters from now on, for better or worse.
I guess I haven’t really talked much about what we’ve found. There’s been movement from the underwater rift. At first, we thought that the currents were just messed up from the rift itself, but after some tests we figured out that the currents are actually coming /out/ of the crack. I’m not sure where it’s all coming from, though. I mean, the water has to be coming from somewhere, but... I dunno. It doesn’t make any sense. Also, what’s pushing that water out? We’re all a little afraid to speculate. That’s all we’ve managed to get. I know, it’s not much, but we don’t exactly have the means to get down that deep, so we’re doing what we can with the remote-controlled drones.
Oh yeah, Christian. I’d be happy to escort you to the Library. It’d be worth it to see an old friend. I can’t just up and leave, though, so I’ll need to get things settled with my team, first. Ug, so weird that I have my own team. I’m not a leader! What are those crazy founders thinking? Anyways, maybe in a month or two I’ll head out there. For now, I really am going to sign off. I think I’ve wrote enough to show Ari that I’m not being irresponsible. Cya!
-Lizzie T. O’Connor
PS: I assume that being under the effects of that vow all this time means your still single, right?
Hey all! Sorry about not keeping in touch better. You think I'd have gotten more free time after dying, but it turns out it's not really the case. ;p Regardless, things have been steadily progressing out here on the ocean, hence my aforementioned lack of free time. Don't worry, though, I've been getting your messages fine and totally plan on reading them when I get the chance. Anyways, I got to get back to my work. I'll be sure to talk more next month. Take care, all!
-Lizzie T. O'Connor
Ug, I can't remember how to erase previous lines on this stupid magi-tech typewriter. Anyways, Ari (she's the non-Sin-Eater with us I mentioned before) guilted me into writing more. So... maybe I exaggerated about how little time I have. I have plenty of chances I could write, but it's hard to want to when I'm out in the ocean like this and there's so many things I can do to entertain myself. Er... I won't bore you with the details.
Annnnyways, I think part of the reason that I’ve been avoiding your letters is because I’ve been trying to not think about all the horrible stuff you guys are going through. I mean, just looking at these entries make me shiver. Being chased by the void? After everything you’ve already been through, that doesn’t seem like much of a reward. And everyone else, uh... visiting Austin. Like I said, all sorts of horrible things I’d rather not hear about. But... I promise to read everyone’s letters from now on, for better or worse.
I guess I haven’t really talked much about what we’ve found. There’s been movement from the underwater rift. At first, we thought that the currents were just messed up from the rift itself, but after some tests we figured out that the currents are actually coming /out/ of the crack. I’m not sure where it’s all coming from, though. I mean, the water has to be coming from somewhere, but... I dunno. It doesn’t make any sense. Also, what’s pushing that water out? We’re all a little afraid to speculate. That’s all we’ve managed to get. I know, it’s not much, but we don’t exactly have the means to get down that deep, so we’re doing what we can with the remote-controlled drones.
Oh yeah, Christian. I’d be happy to escort you to the Library. It’d be worth it to see an old friend. I can’t just up and leave, though, so I’ll need to get things settled with my team, first. Ug, so weird that I have my own team. I’m not a leader! What are those crazy founders thinking? Anyways, maybe in a month or two I’ll head out there. For now, I really am going to sign off. I think I’ve wrote enough to show Ari that I’m not being irresponsible. Cya!
-Lizzie T. O’Connor
PS: I assume that being under the effects of that vow all this time means your still single, right?
Monday, August 13, 2012
Ricky's Entry for August 2012
(( Mwhahaha, 4pts, perfect Rick strike again! Well... more like, last minute, botch his posts, write random things Rick, but heh, at least stuff happens, right? Riiiiiiight? Also, cool idea Kris, go for it, we will see if I get time to. ))
Hola, people!
First thing first, Kris! I've read your letter... three time, because the first time I feel asleep because it was soooo long, the second because I needed to do it all over, and the third to really understand it. I... blame distractions. But I'm done with that, promise! Just to prove it, and because certain people have insisted a little much, Amelia and I are taking... we're going to mean with Austin using certain method of transportation. I would tell you more, but that would just be tempting fate, so I won't. What I can tell you is that we're leaving this city for a while and we're going to help Austin with his underground new crash place... that and doing some sightseeing around town, to see how things are these days... probably not very pretty.
Point is, I'm not going to take this as a vacation. My bag is filled with books, trickles and anti-flea skin lotion. Lots of it. You're never too cautious when visiting stinky places and dark caves. Never again. You don't want to know about my one experience with fleas... it's... obviously nowhere as bad as seeing the Void, fighting for your life in Japan, travelling deep under or meeting dumb ghosts on a cruise, but it still sucks. So, where was I... yes, meeting with Austin. Every is settled and I will meet him in our old town. I'm going to try some of that Magic while I'm there, it never hurts to learn new skills. I may not be very useful when it comes to finding clues about what we need to do, but at least I will be there when it's time to kick asses and take names. This said, I am hoping to make a discovery down there. So close to the sea, so deep... we're bound to find something awesomely frightful. Thanks God I have Amelia to give me courage, otherwise I would probably still be in my room, doing nothing. Mmm... well, actually, I would probably be dead, all things considered.
But, enough about me, more about you guys and the bunch of good news you add to tell. So much I don't know where to start, so I will go in alphabetical order. I considered throw a coin for a moment, but not the best place for it right now. So, Austin... Austin, Austin, Austin... why am I talking about you, we're going to see each other tomorrow and we will have all the time in the world to talk about everything and nothing. But, I guess I should at least thanks you for helping us get home. Really appreciated buddy. I owe you a hug... as a lynx. And possibly some petting... but only if I have a vixen to my side. I wouldn't want her to feel jealous... I mean... to share...
...quick change of topic before she bites me, Chris. Oh boy, I did say that you write waaaay too much, right? Because you do. Not that I didn't like that, so many awesome news in that wall of rambling. Good to hear you're fine and done with that crazy vow. Now we're hearing the Chris we know, not the Chris saying things making no sense to may and imploring the Gods. So, you will meet Lizzy, huh? Lucky you... because... you... sensitive topic, I see... n ext! Wow, I'm not sure if I consider you lucky or insane for having seen what the void truly is... or is not... I'm... not really sure I understood it fully. It surely wasn't what I hypothesized it would be, and the way you described it, it makes me wonder how we can defeat it. I don't want to sound like the pessimist one, but if they come from an higher dimension... wouldn't killing them like... kill us too? It's like, we're inside a box, and we destroy what's outside the box, then we're in nothing and die. Or maybe I got it all wrong. Maybe I will read it a fourth time on the trip...
Next iiiiiis... Darrel. Darn. Why don't you take over for this part, Amy? Oh... right... werewolves. Hmm... I'm going to be honest with you, Darrel, I'm not all super happy about the fact that I could possibly meet you there. Not that I hate or anything... just... you know... foxes, cats and wolves, don't really mix well. I'm really grateful for your advices, but seeing you again it person could be... difficult to handle. So, just in case you're planning on visiting Austin soon... I dunno... try to look as normal as possible? Especially with the fleas. Humans don't have them, you better don't, or else, I don't know what I will do to you. Probably just get killed.
Finally... Lizzy... oh boy, awkwardness. Good to see you alive. Good luck. Have fun with Chris!
Oh, look at the time, we're going to miss the [censored].
-Rick
PS: Since she's looking away now... god, vixen on their day of the month, not easy to deal with.
Hola, people!
First thing first, Kris! I've read your letter... three time, because the first time I feel asleep because it was soooo long, the second because I needed to do it all over, and the third to really understand it. I... blame distractions. But I'm done with that, promise! Just to prove it, and because certain people have insisted a little much, Amelia and I are taking... we're going to mean with Austin using certain method of transportation. I would tell you more, but that would just be tempting fate, so I won't. What I can tell you is that we're leaving this city for a while and we're going to help Austin with his underground new crash place... that and doing some sightseeing around town, to see how things are these days... probably not very pretty.
Point is, I'm not going to take this as a vacation. My bag is filled with books, trickles and anti-flea skin lotion. Lots of it. You're never too cautious when visiting stinky places and dark caves. Never again. You don't want to know about my one experience with fleas... it's... obviously nowhere as bad as seeing the Void, fighting for your life in Japan, travelling deep under or meeting dumb ghosts on a cruise, but it still sucks. So, where was I... yes, meeting with Austin. Every is settled and I will meet him in our old town. I'm going to try some of that Magic while I'm there, it never hurts to learn new skills. I may not be very useful when it comes to finding clues about what we need to do, but at least I will be there when it's time to kick asses and take names. This said, I am hoping to make a discovery down there. So close to the sea, so deep... we're bound to find something awesomely frightful. Thanks God I have Amelia to give me courage, otherwise I would probably still be in my room, doing nothing. Mmm... well, actually, I would probably be dead, all things considered.
But, enough about me, more about you guys and the bunch of good news you add to tell. So much I don't know where to start, so I will go in alphabetical order. I considered throw a coin for a moment, but not the best place for it right now. So, Austin... Austin, Austin, Austin... why am I talking about you, we're going to see each other tomorrow and we will have all the time in the world to talk about everything and nothing. But, I guess I should at least thanks you for helping us get home. Really appreciated buddy. I owe you a hug... as a lynx. And possibly some petting... but only if I have a vixen to my side. I wouldn't want her to feel jealous... I mean... to share...
...quick change of topic before she bites me, Chris. Oh boy, I did say that you write waaaay too much, right? Because you do. Not that I didn't like that, so many awesome news in that wall of rambling. Good to hear you're fine and done with that crazy vow. Now we're hearing the Chris we know, not the Chris saying things making no sense to may and imploring the Gods. So, you will meet Lizzy, huh? Lucky you... because... you... sensitive topic, I see... n ext! Wow, I'm not sure if I consider you lucky or insane for having seen what the void truly is... or is not... I'm... not really sure I understood it fully. It surely wasn't what I hypothesized it would be, and the way you described it, it makes me wonder how we can defeat it. I don't want to sound like the pessimist one, but if they come from an higher dimension... wouldn't killing them like... kill us too? It's like, we're inside a box, and we destroy what's outside the box, then we're in nothing and die. Or maybe I got it all wrong. Maybe I will read it a fourth time on the trip...
Next iiiiiis... Darrel. Darn. Why don't you take over for this part, Amy? Oh... right... werewolves. Hmm... I'm going to be honest with you, Darrel, I'm not all super happy about the fact that I could possibly meet you there. Not that I hate or anything... just... you know... foxes, cats and wolves, don't really mix well. I'm really grateful for your advices, but seeing you again it person could be... difficult to handle. So, just in case you're planning on visiting Austin soon... I dunno... try to look as normal as possible? Especially with the fleas. Humans don't have them, you better don't, or else, I don't know what I will do to you. Probably just get killed.
Finally... Lizzy... oh boy, awkwardness. Good to see you alive. Good luck. Have fun with Chris!
Oh, look at the time, we're going to miss the [censored].
-Rick
PS: Since she's looking away now... god, vixen on their day of the month, not easy to deal with.
Friday, August 10, 2012
Austin's entry for the month of August
(After months of silence, and with the general election fast approaching it has finally been announced that the president is dead, supposedly recently due to exhaustion. Rumors have long and continue to spread, and the general state of paranoia and stagnation gripping the US, deepens.)
Well I look forward to being at your mercy. I'm sure I can speak for everyone. Absolutely. In the meantime we will content ourselves with the fight... the goodfight, folks. You mentioned the orders, and specifically the free council. I suspect you know everything already, but the Free Council isn't what it used to be, at least not out by us. Yesterday we went with a Sea Org squad back down to the orrery. The guys there were FC, I knew them, but they were sure they didn't want me or anyone else on their stelascopes. And now we've had to get creative when it comes to hiding dead bodies. Good news is the place is ours now. I may even consider moving my study back there. That equipment is either the key to vast knowledge and power, or the means to a very pleasant suicide. So win-win. Anyway, I hope you seriously consider coming to US when you make your rounds. Not the communists, or the social democrats, or the nanby-pamby humanists. June and I are trying to hold us to true, sound principles. What we can't afford to lose right now is institutionalism. I'll say it right now, anyone out there who isn't fighting for human civilization and western values better be prepared to kill every last one of us. Vae Victus.
Okay, okay, RICKY! Sorry for not getting to you first. You and all your foxy girlfriends are more than welcome down here. It'd be so excellent to see you again, and you could give us a hand poking around in the dark... if you want. I trust you more than wolves. Much more, but don't you tell them that. What I recommend is that you get a hotel. The smell of chemicals is really strong down here from all the cleaning up we did. The werewolves can't stand it, and the rest still get headaches now and then, so you don't wanna' sleep down here. Actually if you want we can reserve a room for you right now somewhere close by. You'll want to call Greg when you're here or you have/need any more information. His number is (###-###-####). He works up top and relays messages so we don't have to risk being tracked. Be careful, and be quiet, okay? Especially when you're here.
But.... don't let me scare you off, it really isn't THAT bad here. Not like Baghdad or whatever. And if you've got other ideas about what you'd liked to do here let me know. It's just... this isn't vacation land, I'm sure you remember that. Someday this entire valley is going to collapse into the ocean, like it's wanted so desperately the last ten thousand years... it's funny, the connection they have with water. You know Kris, if it's really us who are the aberrations, maybe it's time we thought of trying to negotiate again. There has to be some way we can communicate. What about our friends up north? You know the ones. Nothing to lose we aren't going to lose anyway. According to you we're a cancer cell haunting the prostate of the multiverse. Makes sense to me. For all we know his dreadlordship is a surgeon... or more accurately you'll agree, a surgeon's tool.
That's it then, I think. Godspeed. Tally Ho. Looking forward to hearing from you.
(4 points. Late, but included a world event)
Well I look forward to being at your mercy. I'm sure I can speak for everyone. Absolutely. In the meantime we will content ourselves with the fight... the goodfight, folks. You mentioned the orders, and specifically the free council. I suspect you know everything already, but the Free Council isn't what it used to be, at least not out by us. Yesterday we went with a Sea Org squad back down to the orrery. The guys there were FC, I knew them, but they were sure they didn't want me or anyone else on their stelascopes. And now we've had to get creative when it comes to hiding dead bodies. Good news is the place is ours now. I may even consider moving my study back there. That equipment is either the key to vast knowledge and power, or the means to a very pleasant suicide. So win-win. Anyway, I hope you seriously consider coming to US when you make your rounds. Not the communists, or the social democrats, or the nanby-pamby humanists. June and I are trying to hold us to true, sound principles. What we can't afford to lose right now is institutionalism. I'll say it right now, anyone out there who isn't fighting for human civilization and western values better be prepared to kill every last one of us. Vae Victus.
Okay, okay, RICKY! Sorry for not getting to you first. You and all your foxy girlfriends are more than welcome down here. It'd be so excellent to see you again, and you could give us a hand poking around in the dark... if you want. I trust you more than wolves. Much more, but don't you tell them that. What I recommend is that you get a hotel. The smell of chemicals is really strong down here from all the cleaning up we did. The werewolves can't stand it, and the rest still get headaches now and then, so you don't wanna' sleep down here. Actually if you want we can reserve a room for you right now somewhere close by. You'll want to call Greg when you're here or you have/need any more information. His number is (###-###-####). He works up top and relays messages so we don't have to risk being tracked. Be careful, and be quiet, okay? Especially when you're here.
But.... don't let me scare you off, it really isn't THAT bad here. Not like Baghdad or whatever. And if you've got other ideas about what you'd liked to do here let me know. It's just... this isn't vacation land, I'm sure you remember that. Someday this entire valley is going to collapse into the ocean, like it's wanted so desperately the last ten thousand years... it's funny, the connection they have with water. You know Kris, if it's really us who are the aberrations, maybe it's time we thought of trying to negotiate again. There has to be some way we can communicate. What about our friends up north? You know the ones. Nothing to lose we aren't going to lose anyway. According to you we're a cancer cell haunting the prostate of the multiverse. Makes sense to me. For all we know his dreadlordship is a surgeon... or more accurately you'll agree, a surgeon's tool.
That's it then, I think. Godspeed. Tally Ho. Looking forward to hearing from you.
(4 points. Late, but included a world event)
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Christian's Entry for August 2012
We live in a world of dust and shadow; all passeth away. Take hold of eternity and uproot the source. Or... something like that. Damn this vow! Or should I say... I would, if I was still a part of it! I will go into detail, don’t worry kitties. I’m going to share everything that has happened. This whole month has been exciting for me. You might rightly call it an explosion, because that is how it felt. I’m not entirely sure if I should be alive. But I am. I’m alive, I’m me again (mostly), and damn the magic of that stupid vow forever. There hasn’t been any lasting damage. Credit that to life-magic or credit it to luck. I suppose both are true. But before I talk about myself, I would like to hit on everything each of you have said. Then I can go into needless detail about the last few weeks. So Darrel, you’ve made it out of the Deep Shadow. I’m very happy you stayed away from Gaia, considering everything I have heard about her. I couldn’t even hazard a guess at what that Seed is, but I suspect you’ll figure it out. You might not be a mage to pour over tomes and research, but I know you werewolves have your own equally-effective ways of figuring things out. Granted, most of the time I think you just try it and if it blows up, then you just sit there and wait for everything to regrow. Well we don’t all have that luxury! As the duly elected representative of the non-regeneration committee, explosions suck. And torture. But you’ve experienced more of both than I have, so I won’t go - well, maybe not more. But more of that kind.
(Shivers) No more of that. Darrell, keep it up. Maybe you can get together with Austin. He seems to have a pretty workable headquarters. Don’t trips across the shadow not take very long even when you travel long distances? Or is that the hedge? Sometimes I get my border-realms confused. Don’t make fun of me, I’m not a space-mage. Now you did hit on my idea of escape from this universe, which I think is so effective because it relies on time travel of a sort. We’re protected so that we don’t have to defend our pocket-reality except at one specific moment in time. In that way, we gain effectively infinite time to finalize what we’re going to do about saving the real world. Of course, that does require god-level power in order to make the bridge. From what I understand. I have no idea how much of what I’ve heard is real and how much is mere superstition. Everything about the archmasters and Oracles seems a mix of impossible folklore and genuine truth, and I haven’t exactly been pouring through legitimate books on this vow. Lizzie, it’s so good to hear from you again! Whatever you say, I was worried about you. Granted, I might’ve been in more danger considering where you were, but... I already knew to be worried about me. A rift in the ocean floor, huh? That’s pretty terrifying. That would explain the waves. I hope that doesn’t impact the ecology too much... the ocean is largely responsible for the air we all breathe. Don’t listen to what hippies tell you about trees, about 90% comes from ocean microorganisms. If those die, we’re all gonna be screwed big time. I don’t care if you can come back from the dead, regenerate, or anything like that. We’re all screwed without air. It would take decades, but... man, what a crappy way to go. Lizzie, I am ready to visit the Library. We need to meet, to talk. It will be good to see a friendly face after so long. I’m in Hong Kong right now, staying in the huge Silver Ladder property on 10 Capital; it’s this spectacular steel and glass building, you can’t miss it. Ask for the Archon. They should be expecting you. No you won’t be harmed. Bring as many guns as you want, they don’t care. It’ll be awesome. I’ll even pay for your room service while you’re here.
Austin, I have some things to get done now that I’m back... okay, maybe a lot of things, so it may be awhile before I visit. Politics and all. I have to unite the Orders. The Awakened Nation and all. Gather followers, you know. Just the sort of thing a freakin’ boss like me would do. Yeah, I completed the vow of the stranger in just a few months. Yes, you can have me autograph, so long as you’re okay with shadow names. Speaking of which, don’t give anyone my name. If anyone goes around trying to get it from any of you, they’re trying to hurt/kill me to stop the orders from being united. They’re probably idiots who want to stick with their nice comfortable status-quo, where they’re in charge and everything is this stupid information-cult. It’s time to put an end to that. With our resources combined, the world will quake! Granted... I don’t actually know /how/ to unite the orders. You think the “For Dummies” series ever wrote one about that? That would make things really convenient for me. But it’s a very long-term goal. The Master’s mean I have Silver Ladder, and I was already a member of the Free Council, so that one should be easy too. The Veil is what I’m most worried about, particularly since they have so much power and so many resources that we really really need. It will probably take more than a year, but it is my new quest. In the short term, I’ve earned the respect of my little corner of the world. No more being naked on the streets. No more begging for food. No more... other stuff. Never again. Never again!
Rick, was it really necessary to tell us so much about you and the fox? Yes, I’m jealous of your hot redhead. No, it has absolutely nothing to do with saving the world as we know it from the encroaches of the gnawing void and Cthulhu besides. Stay focused! I get that you’re an animal now, but that’s no excuse to act like nothing has changed. We’ve left out nests. We can’t go back. It’s a new time, a new day. We need your help! I get that you’re more Earthbound than we are, but Austin’s human, and he’s staying focused! Please... I’m not trying to relentlessly rebuke you or anything, but we are the last home for the world as we know it. Okay, maybe not the last hope. But you saw what happened in the bay. We’re important. Somehow.
I was in the middle of a warzone, Austin. But not anymore. I’m safe now, and whatever I was, I’m myself again. That false body be damned. Maybe I’ll show you some time, but... for now I’d rather like to forget. I like being me, thanks. After the last few months, I hope I’m me for a very, very long time. I was in a war zone, because I was in Japan. I was Japanese. I suppose I’m kinda glad I got to pick up the language, that part was nice. But the cost was much too high; I would not recommend the Vow of the Stranger to anyone contemplating it. Still, it served its purposes. I’ll get to that. I learned what I needed to know. And I will share it with you all... right now, I guess.
So now that the vow is over, nothing of the conditions apply. I can tell you anything and everything about what I have been through. I may another time, but for the moment know that I’ve been in Japan during these last few months. Through all the disasters, the wars, the martial law. I’ve experienced it all as only somebody royally screwed by circumstance can. But I was brought here for a reason, remember? I mentioned that last month, as I finally started to discover it. The Presbatorium’s only surviving Labyrinth is here in Japan, well over 20,000 years old. One thing led to another and I was stowed away on one of the boats used by the self-defense army. Thanks to being two-thirds of the way through my vow, I was human enough that I did not encounter much trouble. It sucked, but got me to where I needed to go. Once we got there, I slipped off while the crew was running the ship through a drill. At first you wouldn’t think anything about this Labyrinth place. An ancient monastery to the Kami built atop this mountain. One of the worst parts about getting there was climbing that high dressed like I was - it was so cold I thought I’d lose my toes or something. But I didn’t, thanks to a little life-magic. The military had isolated the whole thing for miles, but by some miracle I managed to get my way in. I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say being who I was helped. I knew what I needed to know to find my way down into the Labyrinth proper. You wouldn’t believe the staircase... more of a ramp really, a hundred feet wide and twisting down, down, down through the stone. How could anyone carve anything like this without power tools? What could they possibly be building it /for/? I did not much want to know. But I did find out.
The further down I went, the less people seemed to care that I was there, suspecting more and more that I was supposed to be there. I don’t mean to toot my own horn or anything, but by then, my magic pretty much was the very strongest. At least compared to the chump-mages they hired. Nobody got in my way, and obstacles that had stymied the self-defense army were simple for me after all I had learned over the last several months. The Vow of the Stranger truly is a vow about fate, and fate led me to everything I needed to be able to get through the Labyrinth. Do any of you remember what I was looking for? I’ll remind you. The true origin of the void. The true origin of Cthulhu and all of that. That has been my search for this long time, because I’ve been convinced that only through knowing what we are really up against do we have even a remote hope of survival. The deeper down I got into this maze, the fewer people I met, until I was totally and utterly alone, with only Forces to light my way. The tunnel just got /bigger/ the deeper down I got. I swear by all things holy that I could not be in the physical world anymore. The stone on the walls seemed... transparent. Like the light from something beyond was shining through. Except the only thing that shone through was awful. The shadows and shapes were horiffic. Probably what you saw in those rips, Darrel. Probably what’s down in that tear, Lizzie. I just kept my eyes down, knowing that I was going the right way. I had to be. The vow was supposedly created by one of the Oracles. I was walking the Master’s footsteps - he wouldn’t lead me anywhere that I would not survive!
Well, maybe that was faith. Or maybe it was stupidity. Because eventually I started nearing the bottom. It must have been at least a week - there’s this life rote called Bread Alone. If I hadn’t used it, I would have starved. Anyone with life magic, I advise you to learn that one. It’s a lifesaver. Very literally.
By the time I reached the bottom, the ramp (which had twisted and split many times) was more than a mile across and sloping down very very gradually. The stone was so worn it was more like walking in sand, and this awful darkness shone through the stone all around me. At the bottom was an ocean, an ocean of black fluid that was thicker than tar but with the consistency of molten rock, bubbling and rising with a smell I cannot describe even now. It seemed to respond to my presence, like the very substance of the water was alive. Of course, I knew it wasn’t water. I still do not know what it was. I will tell you what I think. The Labyrinth twisted out of our reality and into the void itself but was somehow made of the stuff of our world, as to keep me alive. I know I could not have survived if I had been thrust into the void. I think all of us know how unfortunately true that is.
I didn’t know what to do when I got there; all I knew is that I did not want to stay. So I thought about if for a little while, then I did the only thing I could think of: I cast a spell. That sure got the void’s attention, if that’s really what it was. The whole ocean lit up and began to rise, very slowly. I just kept backing up as the surface, as far as I could see in the light of my other spell, began to twist and contort. I had its attention, I knew. This thing, this place, whatever it was, was not about to lie to me. So I squeaked out as brave as I could my question. “What are you? Where are you to us?” I don’t know if I was surprised when the impossible ocean answered. I’m going to go with no. I knew I was beyond the realm of the physical then. Maybe it was a dream, or a vision, or... I couldn’t say for sure. It felt real, and that’s what is important when you get right down to it.
Would you like me to tell you what I saw? I hesitate to discuss it. Really, I wish I hadn’t asked. The truth is a terrible thing to learn when it’s so sour. But I had to know. It would do us no good to hide from it. No, I still do not understand how two possibilities can exist simultaneously, but maybe you guys will be able to figure something after I explain what I saw. What the void showed me was a map of the universe. Or... the multiverse, it would be more accurate to say. It was not the void, in truth. That concept is not real. The “void” as mages call it. The impossible spirits called Itgam. Cthulhu and the rest, all of that stuff! Would you like to know what it is? WOULD YOU? Here is my mystery, solved at last. What I saw reflected in that pool I knew was true. I knew in a way I cannot explain. It was nothing less than a map, and in that map, I saw that our whole universe, the immensity of space and all the other dimensions that we call home are a mere bubble in the immensity of existence. The multiverse goes on seemingly forever, and we are far in the minority. There are universes that have what I would call “comparable” laws to our own, but they are far in the minority. Cthulhu and the others are denizens of the true multiverse, higher dimensional beings who to us would be gods. That is why they aren’t killed by coming here. They aren’t forced to live by our laws because in many respects they never left their home plane. This is why Cthulhu could not simply be killed.
That is the truth. I felt it, I saw it. I have in my head now a map of the multiverse more complete than I could ever ask for. I do not want to know these things, but you must trust me I do know! The universe itself cannot lie, and I can backup this awful discovery with verifiable facts.
So if we are to defeat this enemy, we must know the truth. The truth that our universe, all of it, is merely one bubble in a sea of generally unfavorable, higher-dimensional spaces. These enemies... I can’t fathom their motivations, but in their home their power is near infinite. We are still alive because of the limitations of being here. They could crush our whole universe I suspect, but for some reason they do not. As such, they can only exist in as many dimensions as exist here when they visit. This limits their power. They can be beaten. But even if they are, will they just crush us like a stupid tin can? I don’t know. More than anything else, this discovery makes me inclined to select the “run like a fuckin’ coward” option. Even if we did, though, we would still be within our universe. To leave it would be suicide, so they could still crush us in an instant even if they didn’t know where to go to find us personally.
After learning this... horrible truth... the ocean began to get hungry. I don’t think that it was consciously attacking me, as that would imply the existence of a consciousness I am far from convinced was there. It’s more like the draw of metal to a magnet, or a moth to a flame. The automatic correction and balance of pressure. I was a high point that needed to be equalized, and the way to do that was to draw me in. So I had to run... I ran at least as fast as you could, Darrel, thanks to life magic. So fast I ripped my clothes apart. But I could not win. No matter how fast I went, no matter how much mana I poured into the spell, the stupid dark kept following me! It was like... I was drawing it along. It fed on the energy I used, so that no matter what I did, it would always be at least as strong! That’s what I think, anyway. At the time, I just thought I was going to die. Into the dark would mean certain death. I ran, and I ran, and it was still gaining, and I was losing strength fast. So I did the only thing I knew how to do: I said a prayer. Or I shouted it, really.
I still don’t know if God was listening, but somebody was. Right as the awful liquid was about to swallow me, I saw a light. The most beautiful, glorious light you can imagine. I can’t begin to describe what happened next, so I won’t attempt to try. I don't expect any of you to believe me, but... the Imperial Masters are real! I met one! Her name Enoch. Or his name... I couldn’t tell. But she, he, it... saved my life! She told me that I had an important work to do. That the future was not nearly so dark as it appeared. She confirmed that what I had seen was the truth, but that it was not helpless. She was proof of that. She seemed to think I would not be able to get power like her’s in time, but that we would not need it, working together.
I wish I could better explain what she told me! I feel so helpless to try! Most of it wasn’t in English. High-Atlantean does not well translate to English. A literal transposition would be totally meaningless, but I will try, at least for a little part of it:
The sing first-words must again. Rise from before, and end to the suffering. Without the old and rise before. Presbatorium is humanity’s greatest ally. The Abyss lucid-dream become. Ourselves.
Does that make sense? I know it doesn’t, but it did at the time! Even if I can’t... really remember. Look, it does mean something! I know it does.
Let me know if this information changes anything. WHat might it imply? I haven’t had much time to think about it. Please working minds, see what you come up with. I should be much more accessible over the next few months. Vacation is over. It’s time to work.
-Christian
((OoC: 4 points, for obvious reasons. So far as things go, nobody commented on my short story thing, but maybe KA. So at present, we have two votes in favor and none against. Please comment in your OoCs for this month, and remember I have no idea what you are saying on Skype. Keep it up everybody!))
(Shivers) No more of that. Darrell, keep it up. Maybe you can get together with Austin. He seems to have a pretty workable headquarters. Don’t trips across the shadow not take very long even when you travel long distances? Or is that the hedge? Sometimes I get my border-realms confused. Don’t make fun of me, I’m not a space-mage. Now you did hit on my idea of escape from this universe, which I think is so effective because it relies on time travel of a sort. We’re protected so that we don’t have to defend our pocket-reality except at one specific moment in time. In that way, we gain effectively infinite time to finalize what we’re going to do about saving the real world. Of course, that does require god-level power in order to make the bridge. From what I understand. I have no idea how much of what I’ve heard is real and how much is mere superstition. Everything about the archmasters and Oracles seems a mix of impossible folklore and genuine truth, and I haven’t exactly been pouring through legitimate books on this vow. Lizzie, it’s so good to hear from you again! Whatever you say, I was worried about you. Granted, I might’ve been in more danger considering where you were, but... I already knew to be worried about me. A rift in the ocean floor, huh? That’s pretty terrifying. That would explain the waves. I hope that doesn’t impact the ecology too much... the ocean is largely responsible for the air we all breathe. Don’t listen to what hippies tell you about trees, about 90% comes from ocean microorganisms. If those die, we’re all gonna be screwed big time. I don’t care if you can come back from the dead, regenerate, or anything like that. We’re all screwed without air. It would take decades, but... man, what a crappy way to go. Lizzie, I am ready to visit the Library. We need to meet, to talk. It will be good to see a friendly face after so long. I’m in Hong Kong right now, staying in the huge Silver Ladder property on 10 Capital; it’s this spectacular steel and glass building, you can’t miss it. Ask for the Archon. They should be expecting you. No you won’t be harmed. Bring as many guns as you want, they don’t care. It’ll be awesome. I’ll even pay for your room service while you’re here.
Austin, I have some things to get done now that I’m back... okay, maybe a lot of things, so it may be awhile before I visit. Politics and all. I have to unite the Orders. The Awakened Nation and all. Gather followers, you know. Just the sort of thing a freakin’ boss like me would do. Yeah, I completed the vow of the stranger in just a few months. Yes, you can have me autograph, so long as you’re okay with shadow names. Speaking of which, don’t give anyone my name. If anyone goes around trying to get it from any of you, they’re trying to hurt/kill me to stop the orders from being united. They’re probably idiots who want to stick with their nice comfortable status-quo, where they’re in charge and everything is this stupid information-cult. It’s time to put an end to that. With our resources combined, the world will quake! Granted... I don’t actually know /how/ to unite the orders. You think the “For Dummies” series ever wrote one about that? That would make things really convenient for me. But it’s a very long-term goal. The Master’s mean I have Silver Ladder, and I was already a member of the Free Council, so that one should be easy too. The Veil is what I’m most worried about, particularly since they have so much power and so many resources that we really really need. It will probably take more than a year, but it is my new quest. In the short term, I’ve earned the respect of my little corner of the world. No more being naked on the streets. No more begging for food. No more... other stuff. Never again. Never again!
Rick, was it really necessary to tell us so much about you and the fox? Yes, I’m jealous of your hot redhead. No, it has absolutely nothing to do with saving the world as we know it from the encroaches of the gnawing void and Cthulhu besides. Stay focused! I get that you’re an animal now, but that’s no excuse to act like nothing has changed. We’ve left out nests. We can’t go back. It’s a new time, a new day. We need your help! I get that you’re more Earthbound than we are, but Austin’s human, and he’s staying focused! Please... I’m not trying to relentlessly rebuke you or anything, but we are the last home for the world as we know it. Okay, maybe not the last hope. But you saw what happened in the bay. We’re important. Somehow.
I was in the middle of a warzone, Austin. But not anymore. I’m safe now, and whatever I was, I’m myself again. That false body be damned. Maybe I’ll show you some time, but... for now I’d rather like to forget. I like being me, thanks. After the last few months, I hope I’m me for a very, very long time. I was in a war zone, because I was in Japan. I was Japanese. I suppose I’m kinda glad I got to pick up the language, that part was nice. But the cost was much too high; I would not recommend the Vow of the Stranger to anyone contemplating it. Still, it served its purposes. I’ll get to that. I learned what I needed to know. And I will share it with you all... right now, I guess.
So now that the vow is over, nothing of the conditions apply. I can tell you anything and everything about what I have been through. I may another time, but for the moment know that I’ve been in Japan during these last few months. Through all the disasters, the wars, the martial law. I’ve experienced it all as only somebody royally screwed by circumstance can. But I was brought here for a reason, remember? I mentioned that last month, as I finally started to discover it. The Presbatorium’s only surviving Labyrinth is here in Japan, well over 20,000 years old. One thing led to another and I was stowed away on one of the boats used by the self-defense army. Thanks to being two-thirds of the way through my vow, I was human enough that I did not encounter much trouble. It sucked, but got me to where I needed to go. Once we got there, I slipped off while the crew was running the ship through a drill. At first you wouldn’t think anything about this Labyrinth place. An ancient monastery to the Kami built atop this mountain. One of the worst parts about getting there was climbing that high dressed like I was - it was so cold I thought I’d lose my toes or something. But I didn’t, thanks to a little life-magic. The military had isolated the whole thing for miles, but by some miracle I managed to get my way in. I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say being who I was helped. I knew what I needed to know to find my way down into the Labyrinth proper. You wouldn’t believe the staircase... more of a ramp really, a hundred feet wide and twisting down, down, down through the stone. How could anyone carve anything like this without power tools? What could they possibly be building it /for/? I did not much want to know. But I did find out.
The further down I went, the less people seemed to care that I was there, suspecting more and more that I was supposed to be there. I don’t mean to toot my own horn or anything, but by then, my magic pretty much was the very strongest. At least compared to the chump-mages they hired. Nobody got in my way, and obstacles that had stymied the self-defense army were simple for me after all I had learned over the last several months. The Vow of the Stranger truly is a vow about fate, and fate led me to everything I needed to be able to get through the Labyrinth. Do any of you remember what I was looking for? I’ll remind you. The true origin of the void. The true origin of Cthulhu and all of that. That has been my search for this long time, because I’ve been convinced that only through knowing what we are really up against do we have even a remote hope of survival. The deeper down I got into this maze, the fewer people I met, until I was totally and utterly alone, with only Forces to light my way. The tunnel just got /bigger/ the deeper down I got. I swear by all things holy that I could not be in the physical world anymore. The stone on the walls seemed... transparent. Like the light from something beyond was shining through. Except the only thing that shone through was awful. The shadows and shapes were horiffic. Probably what you saw in those rips, Darrel. Probably what’s down in that tear, Lizzie. I just kept my eyes down, knowing that I was going the right way. I had to be. The vow was supposedly created by one of the Oracles. I was walking the Master’s footsteps - he wouldn’t lead me anywhere that I would not survive!
Well, maybe that was faith. Or maybe it was stupidity. Because eventually I started nearing the bottom. It must have been at least a week - there’s this life rote called Bread Alone. If I hadn’t used it, I would have starved. Anyone with life magic, I advise you to learn that one. It’s a lifesaver. Very literally.
By the time I reached the bottom, the ramp (which had twisted and split many times) was more than a mile across and sloping down very very gradually. The stone was so worn it was more like walking in sand, and this awful darkness shone through the stone all around me. At the bottom was an ocean, an ocean of black fluid that was thicker than tar but with the consistency of molten rock, bubbling and rising with a smell I cannot describe even now. It seemed to respond to my presence, like the very substance of the water was alive. Of course, I knew it wasn’t water. I still do not know what it was. I will tell you what I think. The Labyrinth twisted out of our reality and into the void itself but was somehow made of the stuff of our world, as to keep me alive. I know I could not have survived if I had been thrust into the void. I think all of us know how unfortunately true that is.
I didn’t know what to do when I got there; all I knew is that I did not want to stay. So I thought about if for a little while, then I did the only thing I could think of: I cast a spell. That sure got the void’s attention, if that’s really what it was. The whole ocean lit up and began to rise, very slowly. I just kept backing up as the surface, as far as I could see in the light of my other spell, began to twist and contort. I had its attention, I knew. This thing, this place, whatever it was, was not about to lie to me. So I squeaked out as brave as I could my question. “What are you? Where are you to us?” I don’t know if I was surprised when the impossible ocean answered. I’m going to go with no. I knew I was beyond the realm of the physical then. Maybe it was a dream, or a vision, or... I couldn’t say for sure. It felt real, and that’s what is important when you get right down to it.
Would you like me to tell you what I saw? I hesitate to discuss it. Really, I wish I hadn’t asked. The truth is a terrible thing to learn when it’s so sour. But I had to know. It would do us no good to hide from it. No, I still do not understand how two possibilities can exist simultaneously, but maybe you guys will be able to figure something after I explain what I saw. What the void showed me was a map of the universe. Or... the multiverse, it would be more accurate to say. It was not the void, in truth. That concept is not real. The “void” as mages call it. The impossible spirits called Itgam. Cthulhu and the rest, all of that stuff! Would you like to know what it is? WOULD YOU? Here is my mystery, solved at last. What I saw reflected in that pool I knew was true. I knew in a way I cannot explain. It was nothing less than a map, and in that map, I saw that our whole universe, the immensity of space and all the other dimensions that we call home are a mere bubble in the immensity of existence. The multiverse goes on seemingly forever, and we are far in the minority. There are universes that have what I would call “comparable” laws to our own, but they are far in the minority. Cthulhu and the others are denizens of the true multiverse, higher dimensional beings who to us would be gods. That is why they aren’t killed by coming here. They aren’t forced to live by our laws because in many respects they never left their home plane. This is why Cthulhu could not simply be killed.
That is the truth. I felt it, I saw it. I have in my head now a map of the multiverse more complete than I could ever ask for. I do not want to know these things, but you must trust me I do know! The universe itself cannot lie, and I can backup this awful discovery with verifiable facts.
So if we are to defeat this enemy, we must know the truth. The truth that our universe, all of it, is merely one bubble in a sea of generally unfavorable, higher-dimensional spaces. These enemies... I can’t fathom their motivations, but in their home their power is near infinite. We are still alive because of the limitations of being here. They could crush our whole universe I suspect, but for some reason they do not. As such, they can only exist in as many dimensions as exist here when they visit. This limits their power. They can be beaten. But even if they are, will they just crush us like a stupid tin can? I don’t know. More than anything else, this discovery makes me inclined to select the “run like a fuckin’ coward” option. Even if we did, though, we would still be within our universe. To leave it would be suicide, so they could still crush us in an instant even if they didn’t know where to go to find us personally.
After learning this... horrible truth... the ocean began to get hungry. I don’t think that it was consciously attacking me, as that would imply the existence of a consciousness I am far from convinced was there. It’s more like the draw of metal to a magnet, or a moth to a flame. The automatic correction and balance of pressure. I was a high point that needed to be equalized, and the way to do that was to draw me in. So I had to run... I ran at least as fast as you could, Darrel, thanks to life magic. So fast I ripped my clothes apart. But I could not win. No matter how fast I went, no matter how much mana I poured into the spell, the stupid dark kept following me! It was like... I was drawing it along. It fed on the energy I used, so that no matter what I did, it would always be at least as strong! That’s what I think, anyway. At the time, I just thought I was going to die. Into the dark would mean certain death. I ran, and I ran, and it was still gaining, and I was losing strength fast. So I did the only thing I knew how to do: I said a prayer. Or I shouted it, really.
I still don’t know if God was listening, but somebody was. Right as the awful liquid was about to swallow me, I saw a light. The most beautiful, glorious light you can imagine. I can’t begin to describe what happened next, so I won’t attempt to try. I don't expect any of you to believe me, but... the Imperial Masters are real! I met one! Her name Enoch. Or his name... I couldn’t tell. But she, he, it... saved my life! She told me that I had an important work to do. That the future was not nearly so dark as it appeared. She confirmed that what I had seen was the truth, but that it was not helpless. She was proof of that. She seemed to think I would not be able to get power like her’s in time, but that we would not need it, working together.
I wish I could better explain what she told me! I feel so helpless to try! Most of it wasn’t in English. High-Atlantean does not well translate to English. A literal transposition would be totally meaningless, but I will try, at least for a little part of it:
The sing first-words must again. Rise from before, and end to the suffering. Without the old and rise before. Presbatorium is humanity’s greatest ally. The Abyss lucid-dream become. Ourselves.
Does that make sense? I know it doesn’t, but it did at the time! Even if I can’t... really remember. Look, it does mean something! I know it does.
Let me know if this information changes anything. WHat might it imply? I haven’t had much time to think about it. Please working minds, see what you come up with. I should be much more accessible over the next few months. Vacation is over. It’s time to work.
-Christian
((OoC: 4 points, for obvious reasons. So far as things go, nobody commented on my short story thing, but maybe KA. So at present, we have two votes in favor and none against. Please comment in your OoCs for this month, and remember I have no idea what you are saying on Skype. Keep it up everybody!))
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