Note: the original entry for this map was somehow lost in the move. It was originally posted by Charles, somewhere in the 2005-2006 period.
]]>Whichever of those things happens, I think that it should radically change the situation in the Valley and at Nimus Animae, for good or for ill (or both). Neither of those should result in the maintenance of the status quo.
By the end of the hunt plot line, I want the current Prince to be no longer the Prince, and I want the Princeling to still be alive (either as the new Prince, as the new King, exiled to the Indigo Hand, or leading one faction in a civil war within the Valley, or anything else that leaves him in an interesting position with the status quo overthrown).
I would also like for the Elenorean plotline to advance quickly and violently some time in the near future, but I'm not sure if that should happen during the hunt or after the hunt. All 4+ characters involved in the Elenorean plotline are tangential to the hunt (as far as I can tell), so it seems like pushing that plotline at the same time would threaten to muddy the waters on the main plotline.
I would also like for all of us to know what each factions major objectives are for the hunt, so that we can all work to make sure they clearly succeed or fail as part of the breaking of the status quo.
What do folks think of these goals, and what other goals do other folks have for the Hunt campaign?
]]>
Note: the original entry for this map was somehow lost in the move. It was originally posted by Charles, somewhere in the 2005-2006 period.
]]>
Note: The original entry for this puppy somehow got lost in the move. It was originally posted by Charles, I believe sometime in 2005.
]]>
Jerry’s getting ready for Passion. His goal is to further entrench Love and Reason by selecting commoners to play the important roles—while satirizing the high muckey-mucks, of course.
Gi’s paying attention to the pillar-Tully. It moves when no one’s looking.
Some discussion of Ruth’s fate. She’s a little young to be sold. She ends up in classes with Lhimpat and Yem.
Yem’s being trained in fighting with Aponta and Hans. Jerry’s set to make a lead mail shirt for Yem.
The Dragon-priest is still sleeping in the sub-basement. The Cow-baby’s crawling all over him. Gi checks on him every day; one day, the Dragon-priest is gone.
Okaamahli visits the Wolf-priest. He says he’s decided to leave the military; there’s too much going on in the land that needs our attention. Also, he’s not thrilled with the new leader, who’s not as welcoming of Wolves. What does the land require of you? Sacrifice. Of what? My son. Okay, says the Wolf-priest.
Nakni Banni’s in the Judge-priest’s body. The body’s skin is grey and cold. —The Dragon-priest brings Nakni Banni to Woochi. I’ve got a friend who needs preserving. Woochi sends a Bitterman to fetch Honey and Tishkilla and Heshe. Heshe’s fascinated; Tishkilla’s appalled. She wants to kick him and the Dragon-priest out. They shouldn’t even be washed in the village. Woochi tries a salt-wash, but nothing happens to Nakni Banna’s skin. The Dragon-priest laughs. He reveals he put Nakni Banna together (Nakni’s complaining that there’s no seam, even though he feels like there should be one). The priests decide to drive them out.
Honey goes to warn Jerry. Nakni Banna tries to eat some of the pickled onions, but he swears they’re rotten. They’re fine, but he finds them foul.
Woochi walks them to the gates. The Dragon-priest is trying to summon the Wolf-priest, who’s got a headache. The Wolf-priest gathers some armed Wolves and heads to the gates. He hangs in the woods and watches.
Gi and Palpebra discuss possible mitigation techniques; Palpebra says fire’s usually best. He’ll go and see what should be done. Meanwhile, Murry’s heard about the zombie, and heads out to meet them at the gates. Some conversation about who’s the zombie and who’s dead and how much. The Dragon-priest talks about how he needs to sleep some more. His arm is making his head wrong. The Dragon is building him a mound and he’ll live in the mound and dispense wisdom. But maybe next month.
Gi tells Nil he’s headed down to the pool to talk to the Here about the Dragon-priest.
The Dragon-priest and the Wolf-priest have a shouted conversation, since the Wolf-priest has no intention of being summoned by the Dragon-priest or Nakni. The Wolf-priest reveals he’s been calling Nakni the Turtle. Nice body you’ve got there. The Dragon-priest tells the Wolf-priest he needs a mound. He’s going to sleep for a month, so the Wolf-priest has that long. Where? says the Wolf-priest. Right here, says the Dragon-priest. —The Wolf-priest allows as how the Turtle can live in the Wolf-camp to remind the Wolves of the Dragon. The Turtle will oversee the mound-building. The Dragon-priest says he’ll awaken in 22 days and will announce the presence of the Dragon then. There should be a festival. Maybe a raid.
The guards at the gate want to test the gates on an actual zombie.
Minkoshto sends a soldier (Imálhlhi) to alert the chatelaine and the magi and Jerry and another soldier to alert the Finger (and tell him to talk to his wife about it. “His wife?” “Yes. He’ll know what I mean”).
Palpebra finds Murry and the Turtle and does not attack them; Murry and Palpebra talk while the Turtle starts scooping dirt into a small mound beside them.
Nil’s alerted by Imálhlhi; he tries to ping Gi, but Gi’s not answering. Nil sends Yem and Lhimpat down to the kitchens to peel potatoes, despite the fact that Yem’s worried about his grampa.
It’s finally decided to let the Dragon-priest into the covenant so he can go to his ordained spot and sleep. His ordained spot is ten yards or so off to the side of the stables. They decide to build a shed over him.
Gi tells the Here that it’s just not good, bringing the dead back to life. Upsets the order of things. For whom? Gi struggles to explain death to the Here. He can’t survive on his own! snaps Gi. Yes he can, says the Here. He needed a body. We gave him a body. Things die and come to us, and from us new things are born. That’s not a new thing, says Gi. Yes it is, says the Here. —It’s your fault, says the Here. How is it my fault? You were supposed to be our Dragon-priest. Oh.
Heshe’s drinking lots of melos, despite the fact that it’s Ventrian stuff. She knows she’s going to go to sleep and have a long dream conversation with the Dragon-priest and she doesn’t want to do that.
Imálhlhi comes home to find his wife and baby have disappeared. The Wolves tell him she does this from time to time. Heads out to the woods. She was last seen about 4 days ago. All she ever does is go on and on about the baby, he’s told. Imálhlhi heads off to find Gi so he can find Yem so Yem can help him find Nashob. Gi meets Imálhlhi, and tells him Yem’s doing his studies. Imálhlhi says he needs Yem to help find his mom. I’ll have to accompany you, says Gi.
They head to Imálhlhi’s hut, and Gi finds one of Nashob’s hairs and casts a simple directional spell. Thataway, into the woods. They head that way, and Yem starts listening for his mother. They can all hear the sounds of armed conflict.
They find a clearing in the woods; it’s where she is, but she isn’t there. Yem’s frantic. Gi talks to the Here: go away, it says. She’s being trained. You don’t belong here. She does. Gi asks Yem to listen for monsters, but Yem’s too distracted listening to his mother. Imálhlhi yells at Yem to do what the nice man says. The clearing starts to fill up with shadows and eyes and slithering things. Where’s my sister? says Yem. Protected, says the Here. From what? I don’t care, says the Here. We need to be protected from her, says Yem. Gi and Imálhlhi look at him. Gi sends Yem and Imálhlhi back, and follows after. He’s learned she went willingly. Yem tells Imálhlhi he shouldn’t have left her. Yeah, says Imálhlhi. See you around.
Sonata has developed a new idea for dealing with the Eleanoréanism: she wants to spend a season observing their books to see if anyone else is using their books to find more books much as Nil has suggested they do with their books. She suggests constructing a circle for them to keep them free from local magical influence, with intellego vim spells to listen for projections and connections. Nil’s willing to give this a try, but needs a reason to dip into covenant supplies to power the circle and the spells. He also suggests just trying a month. I suppose we should tell Gi, says Sonata.
There’s a loud crack and a crash in Gi’s room (and Nil’s room). Gi and Nil stumble out into Gi’s front parlor. There’s a crack in the wall near the washbasin. The washbasin’s on the floor, broken. My mother made that, says Gi. I know what that is, says Nil. Oh? One of Lhimpat’s imaginary friends. Do you know how thick that is? says Gi. —They head to the dorm to wake Lhimpat.
There’s a large spike going through the wall between Nil’s and Gi’s rooms. The critter’s asleep: large, grayish green, lots of spikes. I’m going to assume you can’t see this, says Nil. See what? says Gi. Gi can feel the spike, though. It’s big and conical and rough, like sandpaper. Critter? says Gi. How long has it been here? Couple of weeks... says Nil. They don’t normally stick around. —These normally guard things, says Lhimpat. Like treasure. You have treasure in here? says Gi. Some seashells, says Nil. Can you trick it? Or kill it? Running water, says Lhimpat. Does it normally guard things you consider to be treasure? Yes, says Lhimpat. Ah, says Nil, thinking of the scrying dish.
It wakes up as Gi runs his hand along the bookshelf, stopping at a volume on the fæ. Spikes shoot from it. Gi leaps out the window; it follows him, ripping up the room as it does and smashing the wall and the window on the way down.
Gi traps it in quicksand in the cul-de-sac under Nil’s window. He tries a perdo mentem spell on it; doesn’t work. Perdix floats out Nil’s window and hangs there in midair, chanting a perdo vim spell; the monster blinks out, shaking Lhimpat to the core. —Ishta, wrapped in a sleeping-robe, works with Nishoba and Ruth to shore up the broken wall and glass it over. Ruth peers into the crawl spaces and wonders how you get in there without holes in the wall. You’ll have to figure that out for yourself, says Nishoba. They fix the crack in the walls with a low tunnel. Ishta has Ruth draw the monster on the new glass window with colored glass beads.
Gi pounds on Ishta’s door to thank her. She giggles.
Various magi decide to speak with Nil about this in the morning.
“Should we gather people to drive them out with sticks?”
“I don’t like going around blowing people up for no reason, but.”
Ruth, a Gifted child, played by Barry;
Minkoshto (“big chief”), the Red Moon intendant, played by Kim;
Chaloklowokchamali (“peacock”), the Red Moon intendant’s younger son, played by Matt;
Issoba Malli (“bucking bronco”), the Red Moon intendant’s daughter, played by Jake;
Itti Appi’ (“tree trunk”), a very large Wolf, played by Matt;
Rachel, the Imalhkaniyachi Tanner’s beautiful knocked-up daughter, played by Matt;
Tully leaves, with Marzipan; three days later, Tully returns. His leather thing comes down the stairs and bops Nishoba on the head with a hammer, and Nishoba hears Tully bellowing for food. —Tully, Marzipan, and the child Tully kidnapped are up in Tully’s lab; Tully’s placed caps on his head and the child’s head, connected by leather straps. Marzipan’s watching. Tully glows like a small sun and disappears. —Nishoba comes up with food. Where’s Tully? Marzipan points to the scorch marks. I knew you’d kill him one day, says Nishoba. The child starts wailing.
In the Great Hall, Nil looks up to see one of the tiny statues of Tully on his pillar has taken on a pinkly fleshy appearance. He sends Lhimpat up to their rooms and heads off to the tower.
Marzipan insists they killed no villages, the child was bought fair and square, and he has no idea where Tully’s gone. Illuminata tells Marzipan he has to stay in this room. That’s fine with Marzipan. He knows how to set the traps. —Nishoba takes the kid to the orphanage, but stops halfway, struck by an idea; returns to Tully’s labs, and finds the Gift-detector in the junk Tully’d dropped by the door. He runs it over Ruth. She’s Gifted. —She talks about the funny-looking man. He’s not funny-looking, says Nishoba. He’s old.
The Tully in the middle of the pillar is Tully, deep in Twilight.
The magi are informed of an upcoming council meeting.
Rabbits and squirrels are following Ruth about as they walk outside; bluebirds drop flowers at her feet. It seems cats and wolves and foxes don’t like her.
The council meeting! Perdix attempts to point out it would make more sense to appoint a committee to investigate Tully’s mishap; an attempt is made to saddle Perdix with the committee; Nil quietly volunteers instead. Lhimpat’s on the move! She’s headed for the Pool Room with Aponta. Nil races out of the council chambers and heads down to the sub-basement. The guard blocking the basement demands a password; Lhimpat asks Aponta what the password could be; Aponta, after a long, long, long moment, says, Savacion. No! squeaks the guard. Lhimpat figures out the guard won’t hurt her, and scoots past him, and Nil grabs her and Aponta by the hair and drags them up with him.
Perdix moves to adjourn. All agree. Gi follows Perdix out, but is distracted by Ruth, who’s been waiting outside with Nishoba. Sonata explains to Palpebra that Tully might have gone into Twilight examining Ruth, and they figure out Tully must have taken Marzipan with him, violating the agreement. Ruth tells Illuminata and Gi about how Tully told her she’d learn how to make things, and he brought her here, and put a hat on her, and put a hat on himself, and blew up! —A mouse runs up Ruth’s leg and ends up in her hand; she pets it. Gi demonstrates magic by flying the mouse about and landing it on her head. Wow! says Ruth, who scoops up the mouse and flings it into the air. Fly! Gi catches it and explains that magic was something he did, not something the mouse is. The mouse has a string of tiny flowers about its neck. A bird flies into the clear glass of the library window, trying to get to Ruth.
Gi takes Ruth about to introduce her to the magi. Perdix is drunk, and Chittery fascinated. (“I feel a compulsion to smell her.”) Sonata grills Ruth on whether when Tully arrived at her village he had a small glass man with him.
Calvus and Illuminata speak about her Twilight, and the object she created. Have you been doing any Eleanoréan research? asks Calvus. Not that I know of, says Illuminata. Do you know anything of Eleanoréanism? I read about ‘em, says Illuminata. You drew their symbol. It was one of the first you made. They seemed to be ranked in importance. I did Sonata’s, then the Eleanoréan symbol, then yours, says Illuminata. I actually had a conversation with Insomnium about it. He won’t be coming here, will he? says Calvus. Good. —Illuminata explains how Perdix’ box appeared in her big white room, and Insomnium appeared with it, looking for a way in, and was trapped when the box disappeared. He wasn’t so bad. A little annoying at times, especially when he whined. I kinda miss him, and Phrederick. Who is Phrederick? A purple hippopotamus from Tyr, says Illuminata. —Illuminata assures Calvus she isn’t an Eleanoréan. Calvus pings Ndapé and asks him to fetch Minkoshto for a meeting. Calvus pulls out the truth-stick and questions him: is he the only Red Moon priest within an order of Moon priests in the Valley? As far as I know, yes, says Minkoshto. What are your intentions? To rebuild. You’ve noticed that the military is mostly Wolves, and there’s a project to convert more soldiers to the Wolf? This is to make them immune to King-magic. You realize there’s a danger in that, says Minkoshto. There are other options. If we embrace this land as our own and recover the sacredness of Gætan without the King— And you believe that is possible? says Calvus. My hope is that we’ll be free of him, says Minkoshto. If the soldiers followed a new set of Moon priests and the traditional gods of Gætan that they would truly be immune to the King’s priesthoods if they were to cross the mountain? It will take some time, says Minkoshto, but yes. Your process is a long one, says Calvus, and I don’t think we have that much time. These townsfolk have seen the magi put down Judges, and despite that they haven’t converted. With this most recent Judge, had he made it through the walls, most would have turned to him—and those that didn’t would have been Wolves. Do you want me to leave? says Minkoshto. No, says Calvus. He tells Minkoshto he’d appreciate it if he wouldn’t speak of this to the Green Moon intendant. I don’t know that I can promise that, says Minkoshto.
Palpebra’s experimenting with the monocle that was in the paper- wrapped packet he’d received.
Imálhlhi and Yem and a half-dozen Wolves return to the covenant. The really big Wolf is asking whether the Wolf Priest is a big guy. The perimeter Wolves have spotted them already. There’s some business with arrows. Reunion! —After Imálhlhi and Nashob reassert their relationship, she reveals her father’s returned and is claiming to be the Dragon Priest. Imálhlhi reveals he’s going to join the military. What? she says.
Nakni Banna catches Yem up on some of what’s been going on.
Murry’s wandering the Valley, and comes to Imalhkaniyachi, where he finds the Tanner’s daughter claims to have been raped by Virgil during the march of the Judges. Virgil’s in a hole in the ground with a boulder on top. He says she was willing. Virgil isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, so Murry decides to send the Tanner and his beautiful, knocked-up daughter back to the covenant to determine the truth.
Gi meets Yem and takes him around, introducing him to the magi. He’s also squiring Ruth about. They’re talking about Love and Reason; Yem doesn’t get how something you can’t see and talk to can be a god. Don’t you see how a Love so big can overwhelm you? says Gi. Yeah, but you still can’t talk to it, says Yem. He’s mad because there’s no Swan god, and the Swan is better than the Crow or the Wolf. What would the Swan do? asks Gi. A better job than the Lyre, says Yem.
Calvus and the Wolf Priest meet about Calvus’ trip, and expeditions across the mountains, and the Dragon priest.
Murry returns to the covenant, accompanied by the Tanner from Imalhkaniyachi, and his knocked-up daughter. He arranges to meet with Palpebra and Woochi and Tishkilla at Palpebra’s labs, but on the way, the scullery girl shows up to ask Tishkilla for a husband. Not now. Later. To be arranged. He should be younger than me. I’ll see what I can do, says Tishkilla.
The Tanner doesn’t want a device used to violate his daughter. Especially not since it’s one of Tully’s. The Tanner balks; Palpebra says he’ll bomb their new town. Tishkilla is aghast. Murry offers to go get Nil, since Nil can determine truth without devices.
Gi’s got Ruth and Lhimpat and Yem with him.
Bloody-back finds a pair of pants Virgil wore when they were doing the vigil over the Judge, pants that hadn’t been washed by virtue of the pissing and all. Nil uses the pants to question Virgil, and finds out Rachel visited him four times, and they had sex three of those times. It’s a discrepancy with what Rachel said, but Woochi and Tishkilla don’t trust him. So they ask Rachel, and it turns out she’d thought he was a soldier. Virgil never raped her.
They take Rachel to Aafalakto’ by tub, and fly back to retrieve Virgil.
“I bow to your superior—I don’t know what it is.” “Tact.”
”So Imálhlhi’s like David Spade but with Owen Wilson’s nose. The Butterscotch Shetland.”
Characters
Kip:
Perdix
Nipi
Yem
Kim:
Ishta
Aponta
Nashob
Ilbakfokhi
Toomi
Mina
Dylan:
Nil
Ilba
Lætitia
Jenn:
Gi
Woochi
Hans
Mitzi
Nakfish
Matt:
Okaamahli
Lhimpat
Calvus
Jake:
Palpebra
Inokhanglo
Mitahaffi
Charles:
Ishtittihállalli
Sonata
Tishkilla
the Wolf-priest
Barry:
Cameron
Gieron
the Finger
Walk-ons
Topics:
No more Ishta/Priest conflicts
Magic theory
Young apprentices
Voscii
Eleanoréanism
No Monkey explosions
Hunt
Pig herders
the Here
Villagers
Voscii
Manéreans
Quintus Opacans
Monkeys
Issues:
Voscii brothers
the Here
Valley politics
Success
Red Moon priest
writing out Tully and Murry
World-building (Jenn, Jake, Kim, Dylan trepidation to add to politics)
Note-taking
Chairs
Plots:
Kip:
Magic theory
Nipi’s scheming
Yip-yip!
Kim:
Ishta/Here interactions
Ishta’s Twilight, repercussions
Wolf storyline, Crow baby
Mitahaffi/Mina relationship
Dylan:
Order politics
Eleanoréanism
Laureatus
Ilba/Nishoba
Jenn:
Gi’s corruption
Ishta/Gi/Nil
Gi’s Ægidianism
Matt:
Wolf power struggles
Nil/Lhimpat training
Calvus/Red Moon priest
Calvus’ school
Spying
Jake:
Palpebra and the Valley
Valley social interaction
Dragon-priest slow buildup
Charles:
Ishtittihállalli/Cameron/Iba/Honey clique
Tishkilla/Gieron
Tishkilla’s job
Barry:
Gieron’s anger over Forgetful Village
“You’re trying to pick your nose with dynamite!” “But think how effective that would be!”
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Laternarius [A88] (“lantern-bearer”) filius Volcanus of House Ægidius, played by Jake;
Torcular [T94] (“wine-press”) filius Quaquam of House Touccio, played by Kip;
Cudjoe (“Monday”), a Picardian necromancer, played by Matt;
Iilai, an Avreth warrior, played by Kip;
Dulce (“sweet”), a doe, Iphigenia’s familiar, played by Jake;
Palpebra finds a bundle wrapped in dirty cloth on his workbench: a piece of glass on a chain that’s hooked to a golden spiral.
Calvus and the Quintans discuss the political delicacy of the valley post-invasion and the invasion itself. Calvus mentions the destruction of the Judge was the result of several plans coming together. They agree it would be impolitic for Quintus Opacus to itself have a presence across the Lun. Luckily, Ferramenta Subtillior has the Indigo Hand ready to go.
Sonata and Calvus argue about whether anyone from Manus Cyaneus should be considered members of Quintus Opacus and thus bound by the stricture not to set foot in a valley covenant.
The Here’s been talking to the ghost of Nakni Banna, and asks him to speak with the Wolf-priest on its behalf. Nakni finds the Wolf-priest sipping his morning bowl of blood. They discuss how the dragon-wizards brought something in to fight the Judge and it swallowed the earth. Yes! says the Wolf-priest. But it’s not just the Judge: it’s all the King’s priests. Any priest that comes from the King, not just the moon-priests. It’s okay with its own priests: all the ones in the valley. The Wolf-priest asks about the Crow. The Crow is its child, just as you are, says the Here. The village-priests are subordinate to the moon-priests, and the moon-priests belong to it. It has moon-priests? says the Wolf-priest. The dragon-wizards, says Nakni. Is she making new moons? asks the Wolf-priest. Different than the King’s, says the Here. The Here through Nakni asks why the Wolf-priest kills the monsters. The monsters are her children just as you are. You are the priest between monsters and people. There will be more monsters for you to deal with soon. The Here warns the Wolves that they will become more between monster and man than they are. The Wolf-priest wants to go into the valley. Does it know we are rare? Yes, says the Here. —Nakni asks the Here for a body. In time, says the Here.
Sonata wants to go down and speak to the soi-disant dragon priest. Calvus explains to Gi a bit about what the Dragon is and how it can’t have a priest. The Dragon-priest is still sleeping down in the caves.
The Here’s talking to Illuminata in her Twilight. What are you doing here? it wants to know. She’s got to go faster. Also what is she doing trapping one of the Here’s priests in here with her? Phrederick is surprised to learn Insomnium is a priest. I thought you were defrocked. Independently frocked, says Insomnium. I’m creating, says Illuminata. Do it faster! snaps the Here. You’re very peremptory, says Phrederick. I’m the land, says the Here. And we appreciate that, says Phrederick.
The Here wakes Gi and tells him to tell Calvus and Sonata to hurry.
Illuminata and Insomnium pull Nishoba into her Twilight to tell him to tell Sonata and Calvus to hurry and help her. Maybe they should draw Phrederick’s symbol. Some discussion of what Phrederick’s symbol would look like. A heart, it’s decided. But anatomically correct. And brightly colored. —They end up in Somnex’ court, where Illuminata negotiates the purchase of Phrederick. Phrederick is sad to learn that the war on the frontier is not going well.
Sonata and Calvus discuss the new wrinkle of the Here thinking of the magi as its priests. They redouble their efforts to inscribe sigils on Ishta’s spot in the Pool-room.
Calvus has been looking into the Crow. Palpebra’s done some flights looking for Crow-sign, but he’s down to a couple of flying machines, and he’s mostly working on rebuilding his fleet. His rounds bring him word of the Crow’s depredations: mostly outlying villages, farms on the outskirts, lone travellers all in bits and pieces.
After creating an assembly line to scribe sigils on Illuminata’s column, they balk at the final symbols: the Cow, the Crow, and the Here. Illuminata prepares to leave Twilight, and visits Somnex to return Insomnium and Phrederick. She’s pulled out of Twilight into the Pool. The magi are uncertain of the lenses and the device.
Manus Cyaneus is founded.
Honey gets married; a large party is held; Hayapo finally gets laid. (“It’s dark, it’s cold, it’s in a field, but hey.”) The Here is intrigued. Nothing else goes wrong.
Lætitia’s asserting her own dream realm so she can’t get fucked with, basically. Somnex’ goal is to keep her safe from manipulation on this level. Once she’s set up, she can leave Twilight. She drops out in the middle of his third-period lecture.
The founding members of Manus Cyaneus:
Ferramenta Subtillior filia Nefas Edo of House Lem, played by Dylan;
Nemo filium Veritas of House Lem, played by Charles;
Iphigenia filia Pantera of House Savacion, played by Jenn;
Laternarius filius Volcanus of House Ægidius, played by Jake;
Torcular filius Quaquam of House Touccio, played by Kip;
Dulce, a doe, Iphigenia’s familiar, played by Jake;
Implicatio Cæsia filia [L97] of House Lem, played by Kim;
Sue, the 7-year apprentice of [L97], played by Barry;
unnamed apprentice of Implicatio Cæsia;
Cudjoe, a Picardian necromancer, played by Matt;
Iilai, an Avreth warrior, played by Kip;
Dulce has a venomous bite.
Implicatio Cæsia dresses in blue satin and has yellow hair and uses magic to keep herself looking young, and her apprentices looking like her. She’s a cloud-mage.
Iilai is blind, and plays the flute.
It’s decided that the scene from last session in which Ilba and Perdix burst into Illuminata’s lab and twilight didn’t so much happen. Too much frustration; too much deep stuff dealt with sideways. And so.
“I seem to have developed a case of sarcasm from Insomnium. He did rub off a bit on me.”
]]>6 magi, of Houses Lem, Savacion, Ægidius, and Touccio:
Imalhkaniyachi (“to make forget”), the new name of Naapiisachi;
Calvus heads down into the Pool-room. He finds his boar on one of the pillars. It’s starting to glow. Calvus hates this place. There’s something in the water, glowing. Sonata’s there; her symbol is glowing, too. (A swift.) —The place where Ishta’s ought to be is empty. Calvus asks, why us. Our apprentices were the ones involved, says Sonata. Calvus reaches into the pool to try and see what’s glowing. Sonata’s tracing Ishta’s symbol on her pillar. Or maybe she should trace her own. Is this a double-bladed axe down here? snaps Calvus. I don’t know, says Sonata, coolly. I haven’t looked under the water. I suppose it makes sense, if they carved the symbols for the Houses when Sol Media Nox was here. But why is it glowing now? Is Ishta performing Eleanoréan magic? I can’t imagine her doing so, says Sonata. —Illuminata and Insomnium look at the new lens that’s appeared in her hand: a boar. Sonata says Calvus should draw his symbol over where she’s drawn hers. Calvus does, but it’s not quite—enough? Hmm. Sonata draws the Touccian symbol; the Touccian symbol on the wall glows. Must we inscribe on this area every symbol she has a connection to? says Calvus. I don’t know, says Sonata. —Ishta’s blowing new glass symbols quickly. Slowly, says Sonata. That last one burned my fingers.
Gi tries to destroy the Jasper symbol whenever he goes down there.
Calvus and Ndapé discuss the spell and the Pool-room and he chews Ndapé out and grills him about possible Eleanoréanism. Ndapé’s worried: he still wants to leave and go to Picardia when he graduates. Is he tied to Gætan now? He’s tried to find the linkage for the spell and can’t.
The magi mutter about Marzipan. Tully insists nothing can be done while his creator is in Twilight. Palpebra suggests sending Marzipan over the border into the Kingdom. Gi points out pushing our problems away never works. He’d raise an army and come back and attack us! So let’s take away his power, suggests Palpebra. Tully refuses to admit any of the magi have any power to do anything about Marzipan, who did more than any other magus but the wimpy guy in the flying bathtub. —Sonata, Gi, Nil, Palpebra, and Calvus meet sans Tully to discuss. (Ishta and Perdix are still in Twilight.) Nil ascertains that Marzipan has life. Sonata wants Calvus authorized to destroy it. Calvus wants the magical powers removed and Marzipan be deactivated until Ishta’s returned; Tully refuses, and anyway, Marzipan can’t be deactivated. Gi and Calvus insist on the rings being removed. Tully wants to know if Marzipan has attacked anyone in Nemus Animæ. He isn’t in the military, says Gi. How closely is the council to monitor our every little experiment? says Tully. When they destroy villages, very closely, says Palpebra. So just do it. Let’s start with a duel, says Tully. No duels! says Sonata. We don’t settle things with a duel in this covenant. —Some heated discussion of the destruction of Naapiisachi. Tully says it would have happened whether Marzipan was there or not. It has nothing to do with him. It has everything to do with him! yells Gi. Did you tell him to kill the villagers or not? No, says Tully. So you’re not in control! says Gi. He’s six months old! We have to wait fifteen years! Is it the sense of the council that I’m being requested to disarm him? Yes, say the magi. Well. I shall think on the council’s polite request and give the council my response in a timely fashion. Until that time, Marzipan will not leave my chambers. That seems sufficient.
Sonata takes the time to remind the other magi that Perdix was recalled by the order of the council.
Nil needs ledgers from Perdix’ accounting for the covenant. Nil tries to go into the castle to find them, but the memory-palace interferes with his spectacles, so hey, Gi, could you? Gi heads into Perdix’ castle, and walks through the calendar ante-chamber, then into the ballroom, stumbling through the alphabet-dancers and off to the right, where he finds the library. Chittery’s there, chewing on a seed-cake left by a servant. The next room, there’s Perdix and Ilba, sitting on the floor, playing with dolls carved to look like Gætani villagers. Oh, says Perdix. You should come downstairs! says Gi. And tell everyone you’re okay! Oh, says Perdix. How long has it been? Four or five days, says Gi. Ah, says Perdix. We should probably eat something. They put the dolls away. The eyes of the Pickler-doll glint.
Gi confronts Sonata about the whole telling-his-boyfriend-about-the-Eleanoréan-books thing.
When Palpebra’s healed, he gets his messenger-service up and running. It rapidly becomes vital in the restoration of normal life, post-invasion.
Nipi shows Nishoba her orrery. He agrees it’s lovely.
Lætitia goes questing with Phrederick the hippo and Maximus Manlius. Lætitia face-palms the spunky girl who’d need rescuing a lot. There’s also Morgan the Magical Negro and an Ambiguously Gay Druid with stylish hair. How do you do that with your hair? asks Lætitia. Druid secret, says the Ambiguously Gay Druid. I don’t know you well enough. —Morgan dies protecting Lætitia; Phrederick dies opening the gates; Maximus betrays her, and dies. Pherderick comes back. Lætitia insists Somnex tell her what happens if she dies. Don’t die, says Somnex.
Calvus asks Gi if magi at the covenant could be performing Eleanoréan magic. Possibly, says Gi. He points out the ritual in the Pool-room was somewhat Eleanoréan. —Some discussion of the glowing symbols. Gi rattles off all the various possible Eleanoréanisms: the creation of Andrew; his communication with the Here—that’s not Eleanoréanism, that’s færie magic, says Calvus. Well, says Gi, there’s very little pure Cholæic magic lately. Who do you suspect? I don’t know, says Calvus. The only person for me to suspect is Illuminata, which doesn’t make much sense, unless there was something Eleanoréan left at Sol Media Nox.
Perdix passes a note to Nil: Needs work, it says, and sketches a few lines, a mentem charm that all participants in the suggestum should cast before taking part. All participants? (Nil meets with Perdix later, in a parlor.) Anyone who could cast it should, says Perdix. They are all willing, conscious participants, right? Nil asks for his notes back; Perdix reveals they’ve memorized it. Not the incantations; just the theory and structure. So it won’t go off in their head. Could you maybe wear a parma every now and then? Since you’ve got my book in your head? Perdix says nothing. All right then, says Nil.
Nil asks Nishoba to craft some simple metal-work. It’s for Lhimpat. He has Lhimpat bite down on some wax to get an impression of her teeth.
Nil’s finished the first book. He gets to borrow the breath book. Sonata reveals to Gi what Gratuitus gave her: the fleshy lump. They’re slowly starting to arrange actual meetings. Sonata speaks with Gi later, expressing her concern: Nil has some of the same problems in approaching Eleanoréan texts as Gratuitus: too enamored of the ideas as ideas. —Nil points out that these ideas might be used not only against the Eleanoréan Conspiracy, but there are theoretical elements that could be extrapolated to use against the Moon-priests. Oh, don’t give me that look. When Gi isn’t present, Sonata’s much more interested in thoroughly researching the books. —Some discussion as to how best to find the missing books. Sonata explains how she found hers.
Calvus works at Naapiisachi as he promised, felling trees and working on an irrigation system. The people are outwardly grateful, but glare.
Murry tells Calvus he wants to retire as head of the military. He’s still interested in protecting Nemus Animæ, as something of a hero-person, but he’s lost his original purpose. He was never really a soldier before. His job is to be a hero. He has a desk now. Having a desk is not good. Calvus suggests he head over the hills and see what’s up in the Kingdom.
Nipi, learning of Murry’s retirement, suggests the brother of the Brewer-priest from Yanalli: a good soldier in the Prince’s forces (who just happens to be the Red Moon intendent). Calvus, who knows the guy, is in favor. He fought with him years ago. He also know the guy’s a Red Moon intendent, which Nipi doesn’t know.
Nipi’s period is late. She asks her husband to ask Perdix to look her over, as she’s feeling unwell. Okay, says her husband. He goes to Perdix’ room, and heads to the castle; Ilba leads him through the alphabet dancers and up to Perdix’ study. Niceties concluded, he asks Perdix to look over his wife, as they’re family; okay, says Perdix. —Nipi comes for her appointment, and brittlely demands Perdix investigate her; Perdix gently prods until she reveals her concern; Perdix confirms she is, indeed, pregnant, and divines the fetus will miscarry. He misreads her concern, and offers to dissolve the condition; she’s offended, and declares her intention to keep the baby, and storms off.
Symbols appear and form a tunnel in the space where Ishta and Insomnium are stuck; there’s a pool, and Ishta strips down and bathes. Insomnium jumps in and splashes around. Ishta hops out. She’s a bit demure around him. —Insomnium looks through Ishta’s telescope with Gi’s lens in place and Gi, sleeping appears. Ishta’s flustered. Real Gi? Gi snatches his lens from the telescope. Give me that! —Insomnium introduces himself. —Gi ends up in the Pool-room, naked, before Sonata. Hmm, says Insomnium, peering through the telescope.
Gi goes to speak with Inokhanglo, who’s returned. Inokhanglo’s eating from a jar of pickles. Things have happened, says Inokhanglo, and I felt compelled to return to see the mess you’ve made of my lands. I have a new purpose. What is this purpose? New, says Inokhanglo, and I’ve returned. I think the approach I took in the past was wrong. Inokhanglo says he’s to become a Dragon-priest. What? says Gi. Then, what’s a Dragon-priest? I don’t think we should talk about that now, says Inokhanglo. I want to talk to your Thing. Your Thing calls to me, and I wish to speak with it. Thing? says Gi. Your dragon, says Inokhanglo. I don’t have a dragon, says Gi. Something changed, says Inokhanglo, and I need to be part of it. It calls to me. It says, you are no longer the Wolf-priest. Come here, be my priest. How are the bugs? I don’t know, says Gi. They’ve kept the truce. And the boar? We haven’t been troubled by the boar, says Gi. We’ve been troubled by the Judge. The Judge isn’t important, says Inokhanglo. How is the bird-woman? She’s no longer possessed, says Gi. Good, says Inokhanglo. Gi’s pinging for Calvus. Calvus shows; Calvus! cries Inokhanglo, who hugs Calvus, and then falls flat on his face. Inokhanglo has a new arm, long and dragony. —We should talk, says Gi. They disguise Inokhanglo as a loaf of bread and carry him into a private room. He ends up in the cavern near the Pool-room, where the Here wanted him to be.
Lalli continues to flirt with Cameron, trying to find out what happened. Cameron’s told her most of what he can, which isn’t much. They start hanging out in her family’s shed, doing shrooms. Cameron explains his attempt to destroy Marzipan, and the Day the Dolls Attacked the Lightbulbs. They discuss Gætani marriage-customs, and sex in the Order. Lemmites, says Cameron, are more disposed to writing pornography. Do you write pornography? says Lalli. Me? Personally? Not lately. I prefer knowledge by inference, not observation.
Gi tells Nil about having a Dragon-priest.
Business with Insomnium and Ishta’s Twilight; the telescope and the slides; Nishoba and Ilba and Perdix; Ishta and Insomnium end up in Lætitia’s dream-quest, and Phrederick comes back to Ishta’s Twilight with Ishta and Insomnium. Perdix breaks down Ishta’s door in an attempt to rescue Ilba and beat back Insomnium; they end up under attack by Tully’s boots and unable to reach Ishta’s Twilight. When they fall asleep in an attempt to go in more directly, they lose track entirely, but Okakmi’ wakes up and looks out into Ishta’s lab through Perdix’ eyes.
Virgil goes missing toward the end of the month. Murry sends a couple of Wolves out to find him.
Some discussion of repercussions: Okakmi’ coming back as a ghost, perhaps. Jake wants the lies to come back and bite the magi in the ass. Marzipan is a possible focus for priestly rage (and magical rage). —Okakmi’ returns as the Pickler-doll in Perdix’ memory-palace.
]]>Tabli (“to cut apart”), a Naapiisachi rebel, played by Emily;
Kapko’ (“hackberry”), the Naapiisachi Bitterman, played by Kip;
Nittakki (“early morning”), a Naapiisachi rebel, played by Kip;
The Naapiisachi Bitterman is hauled to the dungeon, out of earshot of the Pickler. Ishkish’ishkobo’ and Nannimponna inform Murry, who tells them to get someone fixing the hole in the floor of his office.
Iba, Parker, Hayapo, the Scarecrow brothers, are all in the Scarecrow King. The youngest is making tamales! The rebels discuss the letter to be sent, and write it, with much crossing-out. It’s addressed to Woochi, and demands the return of their Pickler, an answer to what happened at Naapiisachi, free passage out, also reasonable reparations, and if possible a return of their memories. The letter’s handed out the window to Shoha, who discusses it with the other priests. Honey wants to call in the military already. Woochi thinks his Bittermen could handle the rebels, no sweat. They should wait out back to see if they can distract enough of the rebels to break in.
Murry breaks Kapko’s fingers, demanding to know what he was yelling. Kapko’ doesn’t remember. Murry’s satisfied, and doesn’t execute him.
The rebels get nervous at the discussion outside and yell that they just want to talk. Gieron and Tishkilla and Woochi and Honey head into the Scarecrow King to negotiate. It isn’t going well. The priests aren’t entirely sure what happened, and can’t do much about the Pickler, who anyway started a riot (though Gieron thinks it’s more that the Pickler pissed off Ishta). —There’s a knock at the door; one of the rebels looks out and is shocked to see a giant dragon-man, burnt black, knocking on the door.
Murry and Tabli negotiate. It’s not going very far. Murry confers with the priests, and dithers over whether to actually execute the Pickler, or say he did, and heads across the street, chatting up hookers, while the priests decide what to do.
Gieron offers to return the Bitterman. The rebels want their Pickler. They want to know what the Pickler remembered. If we find out what he remembered, and give you your Bitterman back, will you go? We’ll talk about it, says Tabli.
Murry takes Woochi to speak with Okakmi’. Okakmi’ asks about Ishta, and the little glass man, and the short, nondescript man with him, who attacked his village. She was flying, and throwing vials down, and people were falling over, and he didn’t remember it until she did it again at the gates. Okakmi’ tells Woochi what he now can remember of the battle of Naapiisachi. They’re lying to us, says Okakmi’. It wasn’t the Judge, and it wasn’t the Crow. It was the short man, and the little glass man, which I know sounds weird. Oh, I know what you’re talking about, says Woochi. And her, says Okakmi’. I got hit with some of the liquid she was throwing around, and I don’t remember anything more. That’s very disturbing, Brother, says Woochi. I don’t think they’re going to release me, says Okakmi’. I don’t think so either, says Woochi. Do you have any pull to sneak me out? I’ll try, says Woochi. Do these guards all work for the dragon-wizards? We all work for the Prince, says Woochi. —Okakmi’ writes a note telling his rebels to leave and tells Woochi to give it to Nittakki. Talb can’t read. Oh, and can you bring me a cushion? And something to knit with? Sure, says Woochi.
Woochi tells the priests what he’s learned. Gieron suggests telling the dragon-wizards that they know the secret of Naapiisachi, and they’ll keep it, but the dragon-wizards have to let the Pickler go. Wipe his memory better this time, but let him go. He shouldn’t be locked up forever to cover up their fuckups. They agree.
Half the rebels fall asleep. Hey! says Talb. Hawashko, the youngest Scarecrow brother, is shivering with terror by the tamale pot. There’s something in the beer! says Talb. Just what Gieron put in it, says Hawashko. Tamale? Hey! says Talb. There’s something in the tamales! Hawashko panics, shrieking. Honey pulls a knife. Talb orders the hostages out! Out! The Bittermen, hearing the screams, break down the back door. Gieron and Woochi and Tishkilla come in the front. —They get the rebels to agree to leave with the Naapiisachi Bitterman, who’s been promoted to Pickler in Okakmi’s letter to the rebels. Talb and the remaining rebels haul their sleeping fellows out to a wagon and wait for the Bitterman.
Tishkilla tells Heshe that Tully and Marzipan and Ishta destroyed Naapiisachi. Woochi tells the Wolf Priest the same thing, in case the magi decide to attack them. They go speak with Palpebra, who’s lying in his cot, half-burned. Bloody-back’s taking care of him, one arm in a sling. Palpebra listens, over Bloody-back’s protests, and isn’t thrilled to hear what they have to say. He sends Bloody-back up the Great Hall to find a mage. —Bloody-back finds Nil; Nil asks him to take Perdix and Ilba up to their rooms, while he goes to speak with Calvus. He tells Calvus what Bloody-back told him, and suggests Calvus speak with Woochi. Woochi’s usually pretty smart. —Bloody-back tells Nil there’s no one in that parlor to put in any rooms.
Calvus explains to Woochi that the Pickler led a riot, and so should be executed. Woochi explains the situation, and how they’re unhappy with being misled, and they wouldn’t normally otherwise ask, but the Pickler’s a priest, and Naapiisachi was hit hard, so could there be leniency? It would lead to good relations with the Valley. You could wipe his memory. Calvus explains the Pickler broke through a memory-block before. Besides, they took hostages. —The priests understand.
Calvus goes to speak with Palpebra, explaining the situation; Palpebra understands the need to execute him, but what are we going to do with the priests? —There’s an argument over when Palpebra intended the council meeting to be held. Palpebra wants to know why they had to lie. Keeping all these secrets is a bad policy. It creates problems. Calvus agrees. I want that to change, says Palpebra. That will take a great deal of work, says Calvus. Magi enjoy their secrecy. Do you need anything? No, says Palpebra. Except I would appreciate knowing when the next council meeting is called.
The Bitterman is released. The rebels agree that Murry is a scary motherfucker.
A messenger is sent to Woochi, asking if he wants to be there when the Pickler’s body is presented to the villagers. He does.
Gi finds Hoopoe, and asks why the heck he isn’t down there with Sonata. It’s boring down there. He remembers he has her proxy. Council meeting! he yells. Gi sighs. It’d be more fun down there if I was a bat. But I’m not a bat. Am I. I’d hoped you might have lost your intelligence under the circumstances, says Cameron. A loyal familiar would have.
Calvus opens the cell door. Yes? says Okakmi’. You are to be executed now. Do you wish to kneel? How will I be executed? says Okakmi’. Your head will be severed from your body. I’d better kneel, says Okakmi’. You people are terrible, terrible people. Go ahead. Calvus does so.
An hour or so later, someone comes by with a cushion.
Gi finds Nil in the front parlor, lying on a table. A sheet of linen flutters behind him, sprinkled with symbols. He briefs Gi on the disappearance of Perdix and Ilba. Outside, Ishta bobs by, a leash attached to her ankle. Nashoba’s keeping an eye on her. How are you? asks Nil. From what I can tell, you’re fine. I’m tired, says Gi. Can’t imagine why. I’m hungry. You hungry? No, says Nil. I’ll get you some food anyway, says Gi. He thinks better of leaving Nil alone, and calls a servant over. —They see Calvus, and check in with him, and Calvus lets them know Lætitia’s alive, just trapped in Somnex’ dream world. Huh, says Gi.
That’s Evansendia out there, say Perdix, only big. Not as pretty as I expected, says Ilba.
How do I get out of here? asks Lætitia. You have to go on a quest, says Somnex. You’re shitting me, says Lætitia. When have I ever joked about this sort of thing? says Somnex. —He goes and fetches Aurelius for her. Messengers deliver her instructions, and announce her armor’s prepared. Shall they hang her life-berries about her head? What does Circumsessor say? says Lætitia. He’s very proud of you, says Somnex. You went and helped Nemus Animæ. No idea why. Bunch of lame fuck-nuts. I’ll feel much better, she says, if you tell me what happened. I’ll check, says Somnex. Anyway, you should find your companions. Crap, says Lætitia. Is one of them a talking animal or something? Oh, darn, says a miniature hippo in parti-colored hose. I’ll just go. He bumbles off. —That champion followed me all the way from Tyr, snaps Somnex. He reveals that’s actually Aurelius, and not an imago. We had an agreement! snaps Lætitia. You asked to see him, says Somnex. That clearly makes the agreement null and void. Does he have to go on a quest too? No! yells Somnex. There are rules! Nobody reads my books. I went back and checked. Twice they’d been checked out! I pity-checked them once, says Lætitia. I know, says Somnex. He promises to put Aurelius back and leave an imago. Her armor is brought, and her life-berries.
The shield of the Jasper fæ is appearing on one of the columns in the Moon-Pool. And the double-axe of Eléanor is written on the stone under the water! Sonata is pleased. (Sonatas are pleased?)
Perdix and Ilba discuss where they might be and what they might have to do. Perdix explains as they understand it that they’re in a puzzle, and the puzzle has to be solved. They think that’s what they have to do. Ilba explains that Perdix can’t ever leave her behind again. She’ll be his apprentice and do all the stupid stuff and speak Cholæic with perfect grammar and even not see Nishoba ever again if they ask but they can never leave her again. Agreed, says Perdix, and they shake on it. A door appears. That was easy, says Ilba. It’s not over, says Perdix.
Insomnium, noticing the door to Nemus Animæ has been left open, sends a penumbra through, but finds himself in a blank white space. A woman made of glass stands there, looking down at a trunk. Huh, he says. This is not what I expected to find. He and Ishta converse. Is that normal for you? Made of glass? When my parma’s down, says Ishta. Does this have to do with Perdix? says Insomnium, looking at the trunk. He knocks on it. It disappears. Cool! Maybe this is a new power! —I don’t think I’ve ever been this bewildered, says Ishta. I think I’m stuck, says Insomnium. Can you do something about the decor? A comfy chair, maybe? Ishta tries to make a chair. (In the Great Hall, a comfortable chair appears under Ishta.) Anything? says Insomnium. Nope, says Ishta. (The chair disappears.) So I guess I’m stuck here till you work through whatever it is your enemy did to you.
Nil goes down to the Pool-room. Hi, says Hoopoe. Bits of Sonata flutter down. One of her birds is out in the water, trying to dive down to see something. Wouldn’t a duck be better? says Nil. She’s not very good at ducks, says Hoopoe. Can I have a moment alone with your mistress? No, says Hoopoe, no, no. No. Can I bribe you to go away? No. No. No. I’m keeping an eye on her. I can do that, says Nil. No, says Hoopoe. No. I think I can ask you to leave. No, says Hoopoe. Fine, says Nil. Cone of silence. (“Animál,” sneers Hoopoe. “Not mentem.”) Nil casts it properly. Sonata flutters angrily. —Some discussion of the ramifications of the Pool-room’s curse. Sonata notices that Ishta’s symbol is gone. Hmm. Nil briefs Sonata on the Twilight of the other magi. (It occurs to Calvus that Ishta’s symbol has disappeared. He hadn’t known there were symbols down there. He’s pissed.) Sonata’s taken with the Custodire symbol. Nil says he has no idea. Well, this is not my symbol, but I believe you know what it is. She hands Nil her book. I wish I were surprised, says Nil. It’s in better condition than the others, says Sonata. Others? says Nil. How many others? Three, says Sonata. Though the introduction indicates there might be as many as seven. —She explains how she found the first one: a book in the bargain-bin at Sofia, bound as mine-records from Ysrillien for 380. She found the book because of a cypher from several other books read together. You know, says Nil, if that happened to me, I’d flee all civilization. And so you find me, says Sonata. You know, says Nil, I don’t think you went far enough. And another has found me here, says Sonata. Gi found his— Nil sits, heavily, all color gone from his face. Yeah! says Hoopoe. Nil! You and Gi! Nil shakes his head. Let’s not distract the dear Nil from the topic at hand, says Sonata. —She points out the ramifications of the room help to explain why she’s saying what she’s saying down here. Ah. So you two have been communicating about them? says Nil. Yes, says Sonata. Not a great deal. Gi feels the books were found due to coincidince, and doesn’t wish to toy with them. He is an Ægidian. Can I ask why you told me, as a representative of the Cristoférian council? I’m not telling you as a representative. I assume members of the council are entirely corrupt, so it would not be safe to tell you as a representative. I think we need to investigate this, and I have been unable to get Gi’s assistance. I’m not asking you to help me with Gi— What is your goal for this investigation? asks Nil. I want to know what it is they’re trying to do, says Sonata. To what end? I want to stop them, says Sonata. Isn’t it obvious? I felt I should ask, says Nil. That’s fair, I suppose, says Sonata. There are those who do not believe all of Eleanorean theory is— Corrupt? says Sonata. Dangerous? Well, deleterious, says Nil. As we are doing here? says Sonata. Conquering Gætan? says Nil. With ritual magic! says Hoopoe. There are differences, says Nil. Well, yes, says Sonata. These presumably used Gætani gods, and Eleanorean spells—well, we really don’t know. We should investigate. I’m very tired, says Nil. What do you want me to do? I’d like to lend you one of the books, and for you to read it, so we might discuss it. Nil counts off how many times he could be executed for this. Well, I do believe I could actually say no, says Nil Of course you could, says Sonata. Gi does. But he does not have your devotion to the Order. That’s a phrase, says Nil. Regarding Gi, says Nil. Are you planning on informing him?
Ishta finds a lens, a symbol for Sonata; Sonata feels a cold wave of nausea up her spine. I am not well, she says. I understand. Perhaps we should discuss this later. Should I tell him, or you? You could wait, and we could tell him together. I’ll give you one of the ones I’ve already read, says Sonata, taking back her book. Fucking fuck fuckity fuck, says Nil.
Gi’s talking to Jerry.
Calvus and a soldier and a bloody sack and Woochi and Tishkilla find the Naapiisachi rebels. Your name is Talb? asks Calvus. The Naapiisachi rebels stare at the bloody sack. Your Pickler has been executed for his role in last night’s riot, says Calvus. Do you wish him to be buried here, or to take him home with you? We’ll take him home, says Talb. Do you wish anything further? Help, says Talb. Our village has been destroyed. Any help to rebuild it would be appreciated. I will help fell trees, promises Calvus.
Sonata and Hoopoe discuss whether Gi and Nil are having sex.
Ishta’s got her glass-blower and an apron. That makes you look domestic, says Insomnium. Now, if you could whip up a stove and cook us something to eat... Ishta starts blowing Sonata’s symbol. She finishes it and starts blowing another: a double-headed axe. Eleanor! says Insomnium. I miss them. They were great. Ask me no questions and I’ll tell you no lies. So you think Perdix is an Eleanorean? I think, says Insomnium, if you squint just right, a double-headed axe looks like something with wings.
Nil waits until Gi returns to his rooms and has been there 20 minutes or so. He checks in with Lhimpat while he’s waiting; she asleep. She cried herself to sleep, because Nil’s angry with her. Nil droops and leaves Omphalé with her and heads to Gi’s rooms. —I thought I’d drop by, says Nil. Gi lets him in. Nil explains about Lhimpat, and his parens, and discipline. Nil leans in and kisses Gi. Smooths his hair. Why don’t we sit down? Gi is sitting down. He stands and helps Nil sit. Nil casts a cone. How long have you had an Eleanorean book? Um, says Gi, thinking back. Wait! —The maga Sonata sends her apologies. She’s recovered. Since 421, says Gi, explaining about Gratuitus. Gratuitus, you say, thinks Nil. I was an apprentice, and that was another bad time, Gi’s saying. He explains Gratuitus scribed a copy for Sonata. But I haven’t read much of it. I don’t like it. When Gratuitus took it away I got angry. It was my book, and I wanted it back. I didn’t like that. I don’t know if reading it cast a spell, or— You didn’t destroy it? I didn’t want to. Why not? It’s knowledge? says Gi. It’s unique? Are you angry? No, says Nil. Why not? says Gi. Well, I certainly wouldn’t tell me about it. I wanted to, says Gi, but I promised Sonata. Well, Sonata wants me to read one of hers. Are you going to? Yes. You think I shouldn’t? I couldn’t say. But I’m glad I know. I suppose I’m confused, says Nil. So am I, says Gi. Do you trust me? says Nil. Yes, says Gi. That’s very flattering. Knowledge itself can’t be evil, says Gi. It can be used for evil. I can think of several reasons why the book latched onto you. Self-preservation, for one, says Nil. Yes, says Gi. Doesn’t mean I have to like it. Can I see your book? says Nil. I don’t have to open it or anything. Now? Not unless you have some other evening plans, says Nil.
Insomnium suggests if he kills Ishta in the dream-space, she’ll wake up. Or die forever. Go ahead! cries Ishta. —Nothing happens.
Nishoba’s puzzled by the symbols Ishta’s generating.
Sonata returns to her labs; Cameron’s there, reading a treatise on Twilight. Back so soon! cries Cameron. I suppose I’m done with this. I’d thought I might have—months.
Nil’s reading the Eleanorean text in bed by Gi. Gi jerks away in the middle of the night, startled. What a bad idea this was, he’s thinking. They discuss what a bad idea this had been. Nil doesn’t like having been a vessel. Nor is the involvement of the apprentices comfortable. They did something with Murry, says Gi. What did they do to Murry? They invested him with a temporary title or stewardship— Gi groans and rubs his eyes. And Lhimpat? asks Gi. Unsettled. Sonata’s back? Yes. And how are you doing? Fine, says Nil. No, really, says Gi. You’re never just fine. I’ve given up on that level of fine. I’ve lowered the bar. Your goggles? They’re working. They’re running at about half what they normally do, but I can compensate.
Sonata and Cameron discuss the possibility that Miller-magic undid the Miller-glove.
Calvus is thinking of Eleanoreans as he’s meeting with a Good Friend. He deliberately does not think of them, nor does he pay attention to the impulse to head down to the Moon-Pool.
Dylan and Charles are our initial focus characters.
Gi’s and Sonata’s Eleanorean texts were written to be hidden and found later: desperate chronicles of Eleanorean knowledge. Well-structured. Gi’s is the first volume, with an introduction. It makes it clear the books were supposed to have remained in Ysrillien.
“You know, darling,” says Gieron, “I’m such a fucking great diplomat.”
“Somnex is pretty good at hiding all his porn under the mattress. It’s a pretty big mattress.”
“Hoopoe, wearing a cunning mustache—”
Various small brawls break out during the Feast that simmers into a surly, low-grade riot. Half the village wants to leave. Murry keeps the gates closed and orders the guards to use cudgels to keep the riot from the gates. Ishta and Sonata plan an evacuation: word is sent to Tully to return his seven-league boots. He flies back for a shower and a break and hands off his boots. But there’s a trust problem: would rioting villagers trust a magus to walk them down to Cliffside? Maybe sleeping potions, instead, so they can’t hear the Judge’s call? —Sonata suggests shrinking the villagers that will be evacuated, so more can be carried at once. Jerry’s at the lawn, trying to quell the riot. Ishta and Sonata head to the gates, where a batch of villagers and refugees are trying to batter the gates down. (Other refugees are trying to get their wagons hitched up and ready to go.) They’re pelting Murry and his troops with stones. The Naapisachii Pickler is one of the ringleaders. Murry orders his troops to fire a volley at the stone-throwers; shocked, the refugees turn and flee back up to the covenant.
Ishta levitates and throws sleeping potion down on the fleeing refugees. The Naapisachii Pickler, seeing this, remembers. Her! he cries. It was her! She tags him with potion. This would be easier if you weren’t birds, she snaps at Sonata.
Sonata assembles on the wall and tells Murry to have the troops gather up the sleeping bodies and return them to the covenant. There’s six folks hit by arrows, two dead, two dying, two hurt; those are gathered up as well. Ishta orders Murry to put the Naapisachi Pickler in jail. Sonata heals the two dying folks. Those four are put in jail as well.
Nipi urges the Finger to give a speech in support of Jerry; Sonata finds him and casts Rightful Authority on him, so his speech goes over well; they disperse before the sleeping rioters are brought back.
Sonata and Ishta discuss the mechanics of shrinking the refugees. Cameron’s dug up some shrinking spells, one of which works within the range of the caster’s voice; Ishta’s got a strengthening potion; they need a couple of big crates. Ishta and Jerry and one of the priests go about, noting who’s asleep and will be sent down; Sonata prepares to cast the spell. Ishta tries to determine who wishes to be immediately evacuated, or who might be related to the 30 or so asleep in the courtyard who’ll be sent down regardless.
A large number of refugees and villagers (a couple of hundred) want to leave now; Sonata allows some to observe her casting the shrinking spell on the sleeping 30. Nishoba drinks the strength potion, takes someone down to Cliffside with the seven-league boots and back, to show it’s on the level, then he takes a crate-load of sleeping rioters down. Of the couple hundred, about sixty decide to go. They’re shrunk and taken down, where they can oversee the thirty sleeping rioters. Soldiers are sent to keep them safe from barn cats.
About three or four in the morning, some of the refugees who’d been trying to hitch up their wagons take over the Scarecrow King
Tully seeks out Lætitia to ask what she’s got in mind; he warns her about the sheer scale of the weather the Judge cooks up. There’s lightning, she says, and I’ll be a lightning rod, and send the lightning back! Good luck with that, says Tully.
Ishta, Lætitia, Nishoba, Assface, and Murry go down to the dungeon at dawn to speak with the Naapisachi Pickler. He jerks awake when the sleep-spell dissipates. They’ve pulled in chairs and a table and there’s melos and pastries. Ishta asks if he remembers the night before. What’s to be done with me? he asks. I don’t know, you’re delusional. For now, for your own protection, you’ll be our “guest” down here. Is there anything you have to say? I’m sorry, says the Pickler, but I remember what I remember. What you remember isn’t necessarily as you remember it, says Ishta. You’re the one with the big guard, says the Pickler. I don’t think we have anything to talk about. —Lætitia reveals that she’s checked with Manu Tenére; some of his family is there. Good news! says Ishta. Anyway. Until such time as you’re no longer a danger to yourself or others— Myself? says the Pickler. Attacking the gates like that, says Ishta. How many were killed? Two. Which two? I don’t know. Nobody knows. The Pickler is unconsoled. We’re doing all we can, says Ishta. If there’s nothing more? Are you sure? says Lætitia. I could pass word to your family. Do they remember? says the Pickler. They’ve lost some days. Is there a short glass man here? says the Pickler. Not in the room, says Lætitia. In the covenant? Not that I’ve spoken to. If you could pass word to my family that I am alive, says the Pickler. And well, says Ishta, and taken care of. Ishta offers to have some books brought down to pass the time. —Nishoba suggests they need to kill him, or wipe more of his memory. The difficulty, says Lætitia, is those who remember what he’s done.
Ilba didn’t sleep in her room. She slept in the main room, surrounded by alphabet dancers, as Perdix worked over Nil’s spell. She wakes up when the dance shifts and slows; Perdix explains they need to get past the glove to make the spell work. What do you know about Millers? What has Nishoba told you about Millers? Nothing, says Ilba. We don’t have long philosophical discussions when we get together. Oh, says Perdix. Why don’t you ask Nishoba? I will. But you’re here now.
Nishoba asks Ishta to get Ndapé back to the covenant. He reveals the “whole thing” changed after the thing with Gi. She warns him not to overstep his bounds. Calvus is not a man to mess around, and Ndapé is his investment. Yeah, yeah, just like me, says Nishoba. Yes and no, says Ishta. I’m not going to get into that with you. There’s a random knock on the door. That’s Perdix’ knock, says Nishoba. How do you know? —Nishoba lets Perdix in; plans are discussed. Perdix demands to know everything about Millers. Ishta doesn’t want Nishoba endangered due to his Miller-apprentice nature, what with the Quintus Opacans and all.
Honey’s freaking out over her husband-to-be being cooped up in the Scarecrow King and all. (He’s making a big breakfast for the hostage-takers.) Tishkilla collects Honey and takes her to have some drugged tea.
Waakimbala and Assface discuss the plusses and minusses of an embassy to the Judge from the bugs. Or perhaps the bugs and the Wolves working together...
Here! (They’re back.) Perdix gets a ping from Nil, fuzzy and far away. Nil? Are you all right? Nil’s glasses aren’t working. We’ll be there in five minutes, say Nil. —Nil apologizes to Lhimpat; Lhimpat doesn’t know how to respond. (Nil was so happy just minutes before, on a Quest! With Lhimpat! To Candy Mountain!) Gi pings Ishta; Ishta tries to get Gi to get Calvus to get Ndapé, but Gi doesn’t say anything other than we’ll be back soon. Ishta pings Tully and asks him to be ready to ask Ndapé to fly back.
Calvus and Nil and Gi and Lhimpat arrive at the doors to the Great Hall. Ishta’s waiting there. She tells him they need Ndapé. The Moon Trio— Calvus shoots her a Look. I understand, says Ishta. I feel the same way. But the magus Perdix insists this is the only way to stop the Judge. —The Here is telling the four of them they need to go to the Pool. Nil’s maps are online, but the Here is doing something; Nil shuts them down. Calvus, sighing, goes to look for Ndapé. He steps to the roof; steps down to the far side of the covenant—and is promptly dragged back toward the covenant by the Here. He smashes through some shattered ruins and immediately steps back, chagrined.
Over the Pool, Perdix is spinning hand-in-hand and chanting, trying to find the Axis. The Axis isn’t interested. It’s something to do. Ilba snorts. They flick her; the Pool dumps them into the water. They float back out, and the water runs off them. Huh. They flick a sniggering Ilba again, and are dumped back into the water. Sonata suggests maybe they don’t want to be chanting when the Here does what it does. Okay, says Perdix, floating over to the shore. —Calvus, Nil, Gi, and Lhimpat walk into the Pool, and the magi step each into one of the pillars and melt away; Lhimpat melts into the Pool itself.
Cameron, Nishoba, and Ndapé are being drawn inexorably toward the Pool. Ndapé turns his flyer around and heads back to the covenant. —Nishoba and Cameron bump into each other in the basement; fancy meeting you here! Did you get Murry? No, says Cameron. Maybe we should. You could go up as high as the kitchens and send someone. I can turn around, says Cameron. I can turn around.
The Pool and the Here are doing what they’re doing. Nil is worried about Lhimpat, but also Gi and Calvus. Gi wants this to work; he wants it to protect the people, and he’s wondering why. You’re the moon priests, says the Pool. Oh? You’re the Green Moon, says the Pool. Nil is the White Moon; Calvus is the Red Moon. Calvus is angry and seething and hoping this upsets the power of the Gætani priests.
Lhimpat’s on a totally awesome scary adventure with lots of underground caverns. —The Pool notices that Lhimpat’s part of another trio, and that trio isn’t here.
Ndapé crashes the tub into the gallery overlooking the cliff and heads through the Great Hall and down the stairs two at a time.
Who is the ruler of the Three Moons? asks the Pool. The three magi are confused. The moons are Love, Reason, and Wisdom. Who rules Love, Reason, and Wisdom? You’ve brought me here, says the Here, to be the rule of the three moons. Who is the ruler of the three moons? —New symbols are appearing on the pillars: House Ægidius; Clan Sursenure of the Andariens; the Custodire triangle; a couple of boar’s heads. —The Here and the Pool and the magi are trying to sort out who rules, who protects, and who orders. Who is the ruler? asks Gi. The Life-force, he says. Life rules Love, Reason, and Wisdom. You’re the ruler, says the Pool No, says Gi. We work together. So no one is above you? Love, Reason, and Wisdom are above all. (Nil’s answer invovles a lot of sleight-of-hand with prepositions.) There is nothing above Love, Reason, and Wisdom, says Calvus. Which is foremost? demands the Pool. Wisdom is foremost? Everything comes from Wisdom? Who does the land come from? Wisdom, says Calvus. Wisdom, I guess, says Gi, reluctantly. Love and Reason emanate from Wisdom, says Nil. But all is dependent on all, says Gi. Though Wisdom does equal the land.
The Pool turns to the other trio. Who rules over the moons? Rulership is an interesting concept, says Cameron. Rulership should be thought of as a cycle. The Here wants to drag Cameron under and rip the answer out of him. The Sun, says Nishoba. Celestial magic is beyond the purview of Cholæic magic, says Ndapé, but the theory holds that we are the center of all and the moons circle us. Who rules the land? Love and Reason. Who rules Love and Reason? There is no one above Love and Reason. Who is paramount among Love and Reason? Neither. They both emanate from Wisdom.
So: What is Wisdom? What is the Land? —Nishoba’s asked what the Sun is, and he tells them. What’s the Earth? It’s as old as the Sun and it doesn’t move except in anger. What’s the Earth? The thing under your feet, source of life, says Ndapé. What is Earth? Source of life, says Gi. What is Earth? An interesting question, says Cameron. Some say Earth is life, says Cameron, but we speak of death as returing to earth, so perhaps earth is the complete cycle of life, but that’s unsatisfying. Consider the works of Lem— Calvus explains Earth is the cycle of life, though with more emphasis on the mountains. Flat earth is where prey lives.
You will serve Wisdom, says the Pool to the Here. And create, says the Here to the Pool.
What of the Judge? —Nil thinks the land is the place the Judge is from; to deny him the land is to deny where he’s from, making him an unsuitable candidate for the Judge. We cut him off, says Gi, though the Judge himself doesn’t need the land for power.
Nishoba, Ndapé, and Cameron begin their ritual. Murry’s told to strip down and go out into the center of the pool. They walk a lunar circle about him, four times, twice, and once, and their pillars keep step with them.
What does the Earth create? Everything. Everything. Much as a vase is created from clay. The earth creates nothing, says Nishoba. We build from the earth, but when the earth creates on its own, it creates monsters and warfare and earthquakes and war. It asks Gi about earth-fæ.
Murry is kitted out with invincibility rings and protection rings: auram, terram, weapons, corpus, animál, and sent out.
Lætitia pings Perdix to find out where the hell everyone is. I can’t say, says Perdix. Can’t? Or won’t? Can’t, says Perdix, but things should start happening soon. So I should start the lightning rod now? Keep an eye out for Murry, says Perdix. The big black one. You remember. Oh, yes. Okay. She pings Somnex and tells him to keep Circumsessor ready.
Murry climbs the walls and leaps down to the other side. It’s dead silent and a little creepy. The Judge approaches in a column of lightning. Palpebra’s down, in horrible shape; Tully’s on the ground with his silencing device. Lætitia up on the wall is surrounded by a nimbus of St. Elmo’s fire, her hair upright, crackling and popping.
Sonata hands Ishta a feather so she can call in and asks her to head out to the gates. Ishta gives her a glass ring.
Murry and the Judge trade blows. The Judge wants to throw Murry at things. Murry wants to grab and hold the glove. Nishoba has begun a ritual of unmaking. Murry’s tossed a hundred feet; the Judge heads toward the gate.
The Here is the entire circle of life. All goods are creates. The life it actually creates is neither human nor animal, is at times mischievous. Fire comes from it. It is itself. Part of yet self-ruling within the trio of the moons. Opposed to the Gætani gods that come to attack it. Both male and female. It breaks the Judge from the land by eating the Judge to deny him the sky.
Lightning’s striking Lætitia and her rod. Ishta opens her lantern with the fire symbol; it putters out. It needs more vis. Tully hands Ishta the silencing horn and heads into the inner covenant. The Judge builds up a great lightning blast to strike the gates; Lætitia gears up to suck in that blast and turn it into an auram blast to blow the Judge back; she takes in the power, and disappears, appearing in Somnex’ dream-realm. Fuck me, she says.
Lightning spelling out REPENT appears in the sky. Unease is filling the villagers, who see the lightning, but can’t hear the battle or the thunder. We did something wrong, they’re thinking, but what? Murry’s gripping the Judge’s leg and the glove-arm; the Judge pries him loose and throws him at the gates. The enchantment on the gates hurls Murry back at the Judge. The Here steps in, and the Judge’s immobility is canceled; Murry and the Judge go tumbling ass-over-teakettle. The pillars and the apprentices conjoin, and at that moment the glove crumbles. The Judge howls silently.
Perdix? says Sonata. Perdix and Ilba wade out into the Pool and begin to cast Nil’s spell. The Here and the Pool know the spell, from Nil and Calvus; they pass the knowledge on to Gi, so this trio can help Perdix and Ilba.
The Here’s denying the Judge the sky by swallowing him up: the Judge and Murry are falling into the earth. Murry’s trying to drag the Judge back up to the surface to keep him from dying before Nil’s spell takes effect, but they’re pulled into a chamber under the earth. They can speak! I assume you’re going to kill me, says the Judge. Why haven’t you yet? I’m Murry, says Murry. We’ve fought once before, but you know that. I’m a priest of the Judge, says the Judge, but you know that. I’ve been thinking of fighting you for a long time, says Murry. My god is looking for someone, says the Judge. Oh? Me, says the Judge, or anyone else. Will you kill that mage for me? Which one? says Murry. The skinny one, with glasses. Why do you want to kill Nil? says Murry. So they’re dragon-wizards? Really? I have no idea, says Murry. I’m not from here. Please, kill Nil, says the Judge. It’s my dying request. You’re not dying yet, says Murry. Oh, bullshit. When you kill me it’ll be too quick for a last request. A last request is a steak! says Murry. Not kill my ally because I don’t like him. He’s really named nothing? says the Judge. Oh! says Murry. I hadn’t noticed. This is a trick! says the Judge. You really think I’m that stupid? You have any food? No, says Murry.
One of the Naapisachi Pickler’s apprentices, who had been at the gates and escaped the sleeping potion, finds himself chanting certain prayers he’s never heard before. He’s in the Scarecrow King. People are starting to look at him funny.
Perdix casts the spell. It’s a success, but they feel something big way the hell off thataway turning to look; they block it, but it throws them into Twilight. They try to save Ilba, but she dives in after them, and the backlash from the block splashes onto Ishta and Sonata. Ishta’s left floating in midair, hugging her lantern. Sonata is a flock of birds swarming up and down, trying to shape itself into a person.
Circumsessor appears on the wall, and is briefed on the Judge and the current situation; he finds Tully, coming out of his tower with all the tools he’s assembled to fight the Judge. It’s over, says Circumsessor. Damn! says Tully, tossing his tools back into the tower. He finds Ishta and takes her to her labs.
Nil’s lecturing Lhimpat on not staying in that sort of thing any longer than absolutely necessary.
Cameron’s pleading for help with the birds. Gi’s calling the flock to him, sweetly, and they sit all over him and swarm about him, fluttering. Cameron heads up to get birdcages from Sonata’s chambers. Calvus says, apprentice. We need to speak when you have time. Ndapé busies himself carrying Perdix and Ilba to the front parlor to make them comfortable.
The Pickler’s apprentice walks out of the Scarecrow King, chanting; the lightning’s stopped, and the uncertain feeling’s gone. The guards jump him and haul him off.
Nishoba comes into Ishta’s labs. How’d that happen to her? he says. I bet she went into Twilight to keep it from happening to you, says Tully. Crap! says Nishoba.
Sonata is arranging her bird-selves on the symbols on the walls. Cameron’s brought down birdcages, but Nil and Gi suggest she might be happier if she remains down here.
Ilba and Perdix are in the trunk, on the ground floor, in Ilba’s study room. But there are windows, that look out on the streets of Evasendia, in Perdix’ old arrondisement. Only the people walking by outside are enormous. The trunk is lifted and carried somewhere. They can’t speak to each other yet. They’re all three vaguely nauseated.
The successes we needed for the Big Roll:
As spellcaster(’s player), Kip allocated dice. Perdix protected everyone close to the spell by eating a failure for Twilight; Ilba, seeing this, blew her success, allocating it to the off-the-table “Pool strengthens Perdix and Ilba’s Monkey-bond” success. (Other off-the-table successes included Lhimpat getting her dungeon.)
Next session: clean-up!
“We’ve got to wait for the Here to come back.”
]]>Ishta sends word to all the magi warning them that the Judge is fifty miles away and there should be an immediate council meeting. Ndapé’s preparing to travel with Calvus, Gi, and Nil; they’ll drop him off up the valley, then head down to the Here. He finds Cameron and Nishoba and tells them he must leave; you can’t leave! says Nishoba. Haven’t you ever disobeyed your parens before? Not on anything so obvious, says Ndapé. —They agree to try and baptise Murry immediately, and head off to his office. Ndapé announces there’s something in the basement of the Great Hall that requires his attention. Sword? Axe? says Murry. No, says Ndapé. It can’t be helped by sword or axe, but it requires my attention. We can’t explain in any more detail until you see it. Murry shrugs and comes along.
They take him to the pool. Ignore the children, says Ndapé. They explain about the pool, and defending the covenant, and the power it seems to hold, and how all the magi are aware of it. Murry explains he has a God who usually ignores him, but getting involved with some other god-stuff like this might wake Him up, and, well. But the baptism is only an investigation, so Murry shrugs and plunged himself under the water. The water swirls about him, and they all now know that he’s a good champion, but it’ll only be temporary, until the Day of Transformation. Murry stays underwater, waiting for some sign it’s done. The children swim about him, blowing bubbles; he figures that’s it. He stands. For the agreement to take effect, they must pledge their troth; they stand foursquare touching fists, and the water swells up to swallow their fists. Huh, says Nishoba.
Gi heads to Ishta’s room to ask for a parma ring for Nil. Sure! Didn’t you get my message? She repeats the news that the Judge is on the move again, and how Tully wants a council meeting, and how they should work on learning how to manipulate the enivironment around the Judge to cut him off from the sky. Lætitia asks if she can help. Gi says, can you protect the covenant from open sky? Just weather conditions? asks Lætitia. Gi explains about the lightning. Clear or cloudy sky? Clear, says Gi, the only times I’ve ever seen it. Gi gives Ishta a connection; she gives him a parma ring.
Tully asks Palpebra if the Judge walks past a cliff or a mountain or something can he drop it on him? Sure, I guess, says Palpebra. Marzipan wants to use his flame-throwers. —The Judge is approaching a village. The Judge begins a silent exhortation, and lightning begins to slam down silently from the sky, blasting huts into silent infernoes as the villagers flee, screaming soundlessly. Murry starts recalibrating his device to turn the earth under the Judge’s feet to quicksand.
Nil’s getting Lhimpat ready to go. Aren’t we scared of the sky? Yes, but this should be fun. Nil gives Calvus written instructions on disconnecting the Judge from the Judge. Gi gives Nil and Lhimpat a blanket to pull over their heads. (“At least let it be an enchanted blanket!”) The water children want to come, but the water isn’t interested; Nil leaves the shells behind, and is quite stern with Omphalé. Gi enchants the blanket, and picks up Lhimpat, wrapping her in a cloak. (“I can walk on my own,” she says. “I can’t help it if your master interrogated a Judge while you were in the room,” says Gi.) —They step away, and drop Ndapé off in the woods eight miles or so ahead of the Judge, and then step away again, north.
Ndapé finds the Judge on the map, and heads off in that direction; he’s going to sink the Judge in army-stopping mire, but when he gets there, Palpebra and Tully have buried the Judge in a steel ball. They decide to sink the steel ball in more mud and turn that mud into more steel. The lightning blasts, continual, turn into a single column of electricity. Marzipan suddenly runs down the hill and leaps into the lightning bolt. He’s kicked out, smoking. Huh, says Tully. That impervious ring is even stronger than I thought. The earth is cratering and smoking, and the steel softening and slagging; the Judge crawls out of the steel-pit, surrounded by a constant fence of lightning strikes. They climb into flying tubs and head ahead of the Judge’s path. There’s one more village between them and the covenant. Tully will keep an eye on the Judge; the others will fly ahead to evacuate the village.
Sonata trains down to Okla Lokchok, and inquires after Perdix’ whereabouts; she flies up to Tikba’atta and finds the big yellow house. A conversation ensues. Sonata is adamant that Perdix return; Perdix is as adamant that they cannot risk hearing the Judges’ horns. Perdix offers to rewrite Nil’s spell to disconnect a Judge; Sonata points out that Perdix is the best possible caster for that spell; Perdix points out Calvus is as good at rego; Sonata asks so what happens if Calvus is killed before he can cast it; if Calvus is dead, we’re all fucked, says Perdix; the upshot: Sonata insists that Perdix return, Perdix asks if that’s an order; Sonata says yes, yes it is. Very well, says Perdix. Go tell Ishkin to pack up. Ilba, after a moment, does so. Sonata will fly back to the covenant. Ishkin will take the train back with their baggage, come back, and remain behind as Perdix and Ilba return.
Lætitia contacts Somnex to ask for some notes on lightning; Tully pings Ishta, to let her know the latest re: the Judge. The covenant can see the lightning strikes off away in the distance, now; with Tully’s sound device on, it’s like heat lightning. (With it off, the thunder can be heard.) Lætitia and Ishta discuss a weather-something between the covenant and the Judge to block the sight of the lightning. Lætitia creates a fog-bank.
Ishta’s looking for Jerry. He’s helping his wife with the orphans, who have been moved from the whorehouse to Calvus’ new school. She tells Jerry that when he has a minute she’d like to apologize. For what? says Jerry. Got a minute? says Ishta. Huh, says Jerry. So is there something going on I should be aware of? says Jerry. Ishta says, look, I made those plans last night, okay? Anyway. She tells him about the plans for the party, and maybe he should make a speech or something, because they’re going to get some bad news, a lot of deaths, the whole Crow thing, villages eradicated, only they shouldn’t tell everyone about the whole Judge being here in a couple of days thing, because they don’t want a couple of days of screaming. Okay? You want me to write a speech in just a couple of hours? says Jerry. —Nipi arrives, waving. She asks Jerry what’s up with the party she’s heard about, and can she help? Yeah, what party? says Jerry. Ishta explains about how they want to get the refugees together, and talk to the priests about what the covenant can offer, and what happened with the villages, only they don’t want to talk about what happened to the villages tonight anymore. What is so pressing that you must put off discussing the results of your investigation, that they demanded? asks Nipi. Pressing things, says Ishta. Question by question, mage by mage, Nipi finds out Ishta’s the only mage at the covenant currently. Nipi offers to speak to the priests, as representatives for the town, on behalf of the magi, as representatives of the crown. Ishta goes off to speak with Palpebra to see if that’s okay; Nipi compliments Jerry on his services for Love and Reason. Such eloquence for a man who works with such rough stuff!
Nipi plots with the Finger as to what might best be done with the knowledge they have. It’s a species of truth, and it might prove poisonous, and having known it beforehand would taint them. But the priests should be forewarned to expect something. The Finger will speak with Woochi; Nipi will speak with the Weaver, and will endeavor to cross paths with one of the amnesiac priests during her rounds.
Ishta goes to the Chatelaine to have messages sent to the priests to expect a meeting that night, followed by a feast on the lawn for the refugees.
Here! The magi touch down. Nil, crawls from under his blanket, and wants to scrub down from a residual Judge-panic effect; but the magic in the air about him screws with his goggles. He’s motion-sick. He closes his eyes and takes Lhimpat’s hand. They walk a ways into the Here. Gi’s asking the Here, can we talk yet? Can we talk yet? The Here’s waiting, silent. Calvus looks agitated. They’re being scanned; Nil scans right back. They’re all swallowed up by the Here. Nil can’t see a goddamn thing.
The Here and the water talk for a while. They all need to drop their barriers. Gi drops his parma; Nil takes off his ring; the Here keeps demanding they drop their barriers, all of them, for forty-five minutes. Then Calvus drops his parma.
Sonata flutters into the covenant and meets with Ishta and confirms that it was the consensus of the council that she deliver a command to Perdix that they return. Sure, says Ishta, shrugging. Ishta updates Sonata on what’s up with the Judge. They discuss using perhaps Perdix’ castle as someplace to flee to if the Judge breaks in; they also attempt to come up with a story about what happened to the villagers’ memories. They decide to say they don’t know what happened.
Palpebra returns to find Claudio waiting for him. How’s it going? asks Claudio. Badly, says Palpebra. We’ll likely be leaving soon. I’m going to bathe. You go find the village priests and ask them to meet me here. But there’s a meeting already set up at the Great Hall— But I want them to meet me here. Because I will then immediately leave and go back to fight the Judge some more. If they don’t want to meet with me, that’s fine. I’ll be leaving in an hour. If they have something more important to do, fine, but I have things to tell them, and I don’t think they know what’s what.
The refugee priests are headed for the Great Hall for their meeting with Ishta.
One of the runners Caludio grabs is the Chatelaine’s runner; he lets the Chatelaine know about Palpebra’s plans for his meeting; the Chatelaine lets Ishta know.
Ishta asks Lætitia to speak with the refugee priests for a few minutes while she tries to speak with Palpebra. Will they already have received the terrible, terrible news? No, no, you’re going to tell them that.
The village priests assemble in Palpebra’s workshop, and Ishta shows up almost at the same time. She tries to get his attention, but he imperiously orders her out of his labs; he only has so much time before he has to go back to fight the Judge. The priests gasp. They’d all thought the Judge contained. Ishta shakes her head. The Weaver, breathing shallowly, clutches her arm. Oh, dear, she says, and falls. Honey shrieks. Palpebra finishes his speech and climbs into his flying tub. Gieron tries to get Ishta’s attention, but she says Palpebra’s they’re liaison now, it’s on his head, she turns to go. Who do we go to for a dying priest! bellows Gieron. Dear, says Honey, it’s too late. She’s gone.
A runner is sent for Cameron to find Sonata; a priest has had a heart attack. She flies up, but the Weaver wasn’t brought to the Great Hall; Heshe and Tishkilla have taken her to the Lover-priest house instead. Gieron tells Sonata that the Weaver was old, and there’s nothing to be done. I’m sorry, she says. What’s it like being birds? asks Gieron.
Lætitia tells the assembled refugee priests that they’ll address them shortly; one of the village priests just died, and it’s thrown things into a tizzy.
Ishta addresses the refugee priests, telling them the Judge is on his way, and Lætitia steps up to tell them what happened to the destroyed villages, although no one knows what happened to their memory, they’re still working on it, really. Nipi comes in just as Lætitia gets started. It’s an impressive performance.
Lætitia speaks with the Pickler from Naapisaachii, consoling him on his possible loss. There are refugees at Manu Tenére, after all. There’s a chance. But I won’t know for days, he says.
Gi and Nil and Calvus are all spit back up, their skins heavy, infused with Here-earth that they’re to bring back.
Gi asks if negotiations are done; yes, they are. You may go now. The Judge will not be able to connect with the land.
It takes much less time for the magi to get out of the Here than it took to get in, but once they’ve left, they’re weighed down, each of them, by almost a hundred extra pounds. Calvus straps on his seven-league boots.
“Such tactical niceties are beneath divine justice.”
“Because I’ve got a lot of glass, and lightning and glass, ennhh...”
“We got stew—!”
“Apparently, we can be in the here and now without being Here now.”
“Worst. Quest. Ever.”
Tully grabs some equipment and Marzipan and goes to silence the Judge. He’s fitted Marzipan’s mouth with a magic ring that shoots balls of lightning. That way, in case they chop off his hands, you’ll still have a means of defending yourself.
Gi and Calvus seven-league it to Manu Tenére, and Calvus heads off on his tour of the villages. Gi calls for Lætitia. Gi attempts to ignore the guards. Lætitia arrives with sleeping infant in a back-sling. Some pleasantries are exchanged. How can I help you? (She whispers. “We’re a little colicky.”) Gi describes the Judge problem, and the mystery of the disappearing town, and how it was decided she should come along and explain it to the priests. Explain? Why you had to make it disappear. The town? No, just some people—well, maybe the town. I’m not so clear. Tully did something. Tully killed them all? Let me explain; I forgot, Perdix isn’t at the covenant now, so you’re not up on everything. Perdix isn’t at the covenant? —Lætitia explains the contest to name her kid, which the drawing will be held this evening, so if you have any suggestions, the hat’s in the hall. So, says Gi, Judges, attacking. And one big Miller Judge, who’s been deputizing more Judges. And some of the magi went to deal with him. And Tully’s attack went very badly. The Judge had the entire village attack him so Tully had to kill them all. And Ishta wiped the memories of the survivors for the past two weeks. And Tully made the bodies disintegrate. But the priests who survived and fled to Nemus Animæ want an official report. So what’s the official report to deliver? Well, part of what you owe us for the flood is to deliver that message. Someone else will come up with it; you just need to say it prettily. Also, there’s a problem with the damaged crops. And a moon conspiracy. Big or little? says Lætitia. I don’t know. What sizes do they usually come in? Well, I can come along. That’s what you want me to do, right? After your kid is named, says Gi. Well, I can’t miss that. And Calvus is welcome to stay, too.
Circumcessor arrives and is brought up to speed; Gi tells him the Miller Judge is headed down the valley for Nemus Animæ. —Some discussion of travel arrangements for Lætitia and her child. Why’s the Judge on the move? asks Circumcessor. Um, well, says Gi, who explains about the deputized Judge. Gi also explains Tully’s plan to prevent the Judge from raising an army. So, the amnesiac refugees. You have some? I suppose that’s the work of someone in your covenant? I’m surprised Calvus hasn’t told you. That would be the first village Tully destroyed? He destroyed more than one? says Gi. That one, and the one where the Crow manifested. Perhaps he didn’t finish that one. Gi shrugs. Gi also explains about his odd encounter with Sol Media Nox. Really, says Circumsessor. Gi asks for access to Manu Tenére’s library, to find spells that prevent or protect against possession. Check under Somnex’ mattress, suggests Lætitia. You did get your name in, didn’t you? Not yet, says Circumsessor. This is your last chance, says Lætitia. I was thinking Claude. With an “AU” and not an “O,” right? I was thinking “AWE.” —Gi brings up the question of his contacts with Tansie. Too distracting? If you keep it to dire need, or once every ten days—and after dinner, says Circumsessor. Of course. But we do need a more direct form of covenant-to-covenant contact in the case of dire need. We have a mirror communicator that works very well for Bethelion, says Circumsessor. Could we pass on the notes to your Touccians? Ishta would be perfect for that, says Gi. —Some discussion of a suitable replacement for Mens. Who do we have in vim? asks Circumsessor.
Lætitia takes Gi to see Tansie, whose midday lecture is about to end.
Tully and Marzipan attempt to attack the Miller Judge, which is as futile as before; they are successful in surrounding him with about a half-mile of silence. But the spell is fixed in an ear-trumpet, so they have to keep pace with the Judge to keep him surrounded in silence. Palpebra suggests digging a big hole and burying the Judge to slow him up. Palpebra carries the trumpet while Tully heads back to the covenant for digging tools.
Cameron’s in the library, studying the daisy drawing he was given. There are three tiers of petals, one with seven, one with 12, and one with 32—the three moon cycles. He’s switched the position of two of his fingernails. He’s painted them different patterns to make sure he can keep track.
Ishta and Sonata both are down in the pool room. Ishta’s naked and has let down her hair and turned off her parma, so her skin is glowing glass. She’s looking for moon symbols in the pool room that match the symbols on her lantern. She doesn’t find any. She starts putting symbols on the columns. Sonata watches. She asks Ishta to explain what symbols she’s added already.
Cameron’s working on a spell to protect him from mind control, in the form of a tattoo ringing his head under his blue hair.
A people-mover arrives from the covenant, with a packet of tiny bundles of cloth and a note reading: Dear Ishta, stack with plenty of space, love, Perdix.
Lætitia draws a name from a hat. (Calvus has returned in time. No one attacked him; no one renounced the Prince; he told the one person who had Fuck the Prince written on their roof that they needed to clean it up before he came back.) The name is Aurelius, suggested by a guard.
Cameron has set up his link to Nishoba so that he can hear what Nishoba is doing. Then he writes a separate spell to induce a sneezing fit in Nishoba while he’s nearby. Nishoba sneezes; Cameron is pleased, then tries the experiment again, only this time casts the spell inside an anti-mind control protection spell to see if it can make it out. Nishoba almost sneezes a few times, but doesn’t execute. Cameron decides the protection isn’t strong enough.
Lætitia arranges for a wet nurse and leaves Aurelius with Somnex. She departs with Gi and Calvus. Before they leave, a pigeon arrives at Manu Tenére from a young, Picardian female Cristoferean lecturer (with a mild background in necromancy) at Bethelion, writing a letter of inquiry for the open position.
Nil and Lhimpat are about halfway through the Judge code. Nil’s put a wooden panel over her window.
Nishoba goes looking for Cameron. How do we fend off a Judge? We turn his brain into a pig’s, says Cameron. But this one has withstood every attack we’ve thrown at him, so I bet you’re wondering how we do it in a non-Cholæic fashion. Nishoba nods. Can we work with it, or do we merely do its bidding? We’ve made it work for us before, says Nishoba. We should try something. I think it’ll have to be Ndapé. That gets fed to the Judge? says Cameron. Well, that’s the spearhead. Maybe we should bring up some water and do something ceremonial. Okay. Should we get Ndapé? Yes, says Cameron. Do you know what your mom’s doing down there? Sorry, your parens? says Nishoba. Am I my parens’ keeper? says Cameron. If you’re smart, yeah. Well, she’s down there now. She’s down there all the time, says Nishoba. You think we should wait till she isn’t, to get some water? Well, she has been tolerant of that sort of thing. Let’s find our third wheel and go see. You know where he is? —Strangely, Nishoba does, as does Cameron: he’s down by the pool. Huh. (“Oh, my parens wants me to knock myself unconscious if I encounter the Judge,” says Nishoba. “I could help you with that,” says Cameron.) —Some discussion of the water-connection, and whether it overrides parma, or acts as a Cholæic arcane connection in any fashion. Cameron casts a spell to change Ndapé’s eyes to violet, to test it; did you turn everybody’s eyes to violet? asks Nishoba. No, says Cameron. Why? Because your eyes are violet. Really violet.
They arrive; Ndapé’s watching Ishta wander about, naked. —Some discussion of nudity as a magical technique, and how it works better with the pool; Ndapé reveals it would be unwise for him to drop his parma. Tully used to do that to me, too, says Ishta; Cameron complains to Sonata that once more he is not receiving the training of his peers. Well, I could attack you if you drop your parma, says Sonata. Heck, I could hook you up, says Ndapé. Actually, would you? says Sonata, and then, no, we are not Derlethians. But we are Diaspora... —Some discussion as to whether they are a Trio, and what Calvus might think of that, and how perhaps they’d better not be so free with that term. Nishoba is given a brief history of Trios within the Order. The Trio takes their measures of water, and agree to meet by the lake in half an hour or so. Ishta returns to her lab. On the way, she meets Lætitia and Gi. How wonderful to see you! says Lætitia. —Some discussion of the hurricane, and the baby, and who the father is, which Lætitia won’t reveal. (“Don’t worry, it’s not you,” says Lætitia; “Well, duh, I mean, two women,” says Ishta. Gi goggles at that.) But the whole Eleanoréan connection? Oh, no no no no no, says Lætitia. Au naturel, says Gi. Would you mind entertaining Lætitia for a bit while I go speak with Sonata? says Gi. Lætitia titters.
Lætitia sees Ndapé walking past with a pitcher, and summons him over; she asks if it’s from the pool, and Ndapé tells her these things shouldn’t be spoken of openly; he congratulates her on her son, and Ishta’s distressed to learn he knew what she didn’t. It’s a testament to your industry in your lab, says Ndapé, who takes his leave.
Ishta finds a note from Nil on her lab door. She has her guard tell Nil he’ll meet with her, but there are conditions, and she needs to summon Nishoba. She and Lætitia head into her labs.
Nil tells the guard he can’t leave his chambers, so she must meet him there; there will be refreshments. He’s exhausted. Lhimpat’s fingers are all different colors. Nil won’t let her leave his chambers, either. Oh, and if you see Gi on the way, says Nil, tell him I’m here.
Calvus heads to the Scarecrow King after visiting the orphanage.
Gi shows up at Nil’s door; Nil’s feverishly paranoid about the Judge and the sky and leaving his rooms. The hallways have windows, says Nil. So if you can defuse such a connection—well, I’d like to leave at some point in the next five years. I don’t know if it only connects me with this Judge or if it’s a lifelong blemish. Gi fetches food and books and keeps Nil company.
Tully and Palpebra dig a big hole and bury the Judge. How long does it take to get out of this thing? says Tully. The last time it happened to me, it took me a day and a half. They decide to turn the dirt around the Judge into diamond, so Tully calls on Ishta, who’s entertaining Lætitia. Ishta sighs; Tully, who’s seven-leagued his way back, knocks on her door. Lætitia makes herself comfortable. Tully and Ishta discuss tactics; Tully decides to do steel and not glass or diamond, since dirt to steel is easier, so.
Nil and Gi dicuss the prospects of war between the Order-backed Prince and the moon-backed King. Either we need to get out or establish eight more covenants in the next year, says Nil. Why didn’t he move earlier? says Gi. It’s probably not been worth it to him, says Nil. —Nil notices the Judge is not on the map and starts to freak; Gi tries to calm him.
Tully turns the surface of the earth over the Judge to steel. They dig a trench around the cap and start to turn the disturbed earth into a steel wall going down into the ground. Palpebra calls Nil on the shell Nil gave him to try and find out why the Judge isn’t on the map. Palpebra sends Hans back to the Judge’s barn to get some blankets or something else the Judge has touched so Nil has a chance to have a connection to the Judge. Gi tries to get Nil to sleep until Hans gets back. Tully starts destroying the trees that grow through the steel plate.
The Trio is discussing the best plan for testing the pool-water. Perhaps trying to ward Gi’s summer-lab, and then attacking it? Ndapé suggests rather an abandoned house in the lower town. As they turn to leave, a monkey appears, chittering; some discussion of whether monkeys talk, and whether Gætani worship monkeys (“You do know the Monkey visited this covenant, right?” says Nishoba). —Off to the lower town! The monkey follows them, but stops at the wall into town. —The Trio discovers they selected pitchers of an appropriate color: white porcelain, green glass, red clay. Ndapé must then circle the building 4 times, as Nishoba circles 3 times, as Cameron circles once. They do so. Nothing suggests itself to them when they’re done. It starts to rain, lightly. They realize they’re inside the circle, despite their efforts to end up outside; they head into the shed. There’s boxes and crates and a half unpacked wagon. Cameron looks for a bowl and finds a nice one in a crate, and they pour their water into the bowl. (In the covenant, the Finger wakes up, feeling curiously at ease for the first time in days; a fleeting memory of his Great Aunt, and her fruit service; the bowls are still packed away somewhere, as there’s no room in the rooms for all their things.) —The bowl has four signs: one for each moon, plus the King. They realize a fourth must be added to their Trio to make a full set to confront the Judge; that fourth should clearly be the Finger. But Murry is also a protector of the covenant; Murry could also be ennobled, baptised, and that might serve as their attempt to bend the magic to their will. They make the sign of the King on the wall, pour out the water, and pack the bowl away, leaving their pitchers by the walls without the King-sign.
Ndapé stops by Lætitia’s rooms on his way back, and tells her the name of the Cristoférian she was asking about (Mortem Obiratrix); he then asks himself in, and then asks if they need to keep speaking.
Towards dawn, the Judge can be heard pounding on the steel cap. Tully has invented a device that he can skid along the steel to peer down and see what’s under, and they’ve been skating about looking for the Judge. The booming knocks announce the Judge’s location. The steel is denting up under the power of the Judge’s Miller glove. Tully and Palpebra talk tactics. Palpebra makes a hole in the steel near the pounding, so Tully can reach the dirt with his jerry-rigged device. The pounding’s stopped. The ground is trembling. Tully’s started the device working, but it takes a minute and a half to do its thing; the Miller glove bursts out of the earth and grabs the device, levering the Judge up and out; he gets his face free as the spell finishes. Lightning blasts from the sky, striking the steel plate, and starts to hit repeatedly, cracking the steel and trying to hit Tully and Marzipan, destroying the plate and cracking the Judge free. The forest about them starts to smolder. Up in the sky, Palpebra’s team is dodging lightning bolts. The Judge stalks after Tully, catching lighting from the sky with his glove and flinging it at Tully, until a wall of lightning jacobs-ladders between them, and the Judge, howling silently under Tully’s spell, turns and heads back toward the covenant. Shrugging, Tully and Marzipan follow.
Gi goes to Calvus’ rooms to catch him up on the Judge. The Here has told Gi that if negotiations are sped up, the Here will deny the Judge the land. Gi wants to borrow Calvus’ boots to go and negotiate with the Here. —Gi then heads up to Nil’s rooms; so you want to go talk to the Pool? asks Gi. Yeah, sure, says Nil, exhausted.
Tully wakes up Ishta with a mighty ping. He warns her the Judge is fifty miles away and will be on the covenant in two days. They need to prepare to manipulate his environment. Come up with something to blot out the sky above him. Get ready! Call a council meeting!
Sonata is surprised to see Nil and Gi arrive at the Pool. They’re there to negotiate between the Pool and the Here. What does the Here want? says Sonata. To complete negotiations with the Pool, says Gi. I suppose it’s the case that not many influences not already in here, says Sonata. And the Here has already been here once, says Gi, who takes up a mouthful of water so the two of them might speak. One of the children appears in the water, splashing about, noticing Lhimpat and playing near her, shaping itself to look like her. —All three of them (Calvus, Nil, and Gi) must go, taking water. They tell Sonata they’ll be back in 12 hours. Should we call Perdix back? asks Sonata. Yes, says Gi. All right. And Lætitia could help—she’s a weather-sorcerer; she could turn back the lightning. And word needs to be gotten to Tully and Palpebra—I’ll send Ndapé to assist them, says Calvus. And could you get some blood from the Judge we killed? asks Gi. Of course, says Calvus. —Sonata decides to go in person to fetch Perdix and Ilba. (“Did we just leave the covenant empty except for Ishta and Lætitia?”)
“If by pretty much you mean no, then yes.”
]]>Shoka (“to kiss”), the Lover priest of Yanalli, played by Dylan;
Hatip (“hips”), the Second Assistant Lover of Naapiisachi, played by Jenn;
Okakmi’ (“ice”), the Pickler of Yanalli, played by Barry;
Nipi sends her amenuensis away, then pulls her chair into the middle of the room, sits in it, and says, “I am alone, and wish to speak with whomever is listening to me.” She repeats this every couple of minutes until Nil arrives. —She then confirms what he suspected with re: the moon-priest “conspiracy.” They agree that the conspirators’ spycraft is not so practiced, nor their commitment to Love and Reason, but their loyalty to the Prince is not to be questioned, and the priests of Yanalli are worried about the possible famine resulting from the hurricane.
Nil knocks on Gi’s door. Council meeting! says Nil chipperly. You going to turn yourself in? says Gi. Nil shoots him a look, and brief’s Gi on his “very enlightening” conversation with Mrs. the Finger. Oh! Also, there might be a famine with the trees being harmed by the hurricane, so we might want to look into that. Gi is confused: Moon-Priest conspiracy? Oh! Right! That was Sonata I was talking to about that. And the trees is a myth, says Gi. But a myth is enough to start a religious civil war. So could you go look at the trees? And focus on the food agriculture plant aspect of this? I’ll speak to someone else about the rest of it. I’m a city boy, says Gi. But plants! says Nil. They grow. —Nil goes whizzing off to see Calvus.
Palpebra grabs Nil by the arm on his way to Calvus and says, I’ve got something for you. And he drags Nil to a side parlor where there’s a man tied up with his feet cut off and his lips sewn shut (though that’s not obvious under the gag). The horn? says Nil. Palpebra hands Nil the horn. He deptutized four of them. We’ve killed the rest. So he’s fresh? The Judge growls. Palpebra hits him. You might want to sedate him, says Nil. Palpebra hits the Judge harder.
Calvus is walking past to the parlor next door, to meet with the Yanalli priests. Nil signals him over. Ishta’s walking past as well, carrying her lantern. Calvus asks they all step inside to speak privately. He’s impressed with the Judge. Nothing I do will be damaging, says Nil. If you need to damage him, that’s fine, says Calvus. Nil reveals that some of the Yanalli priests are moon priests. From over the mountain? No, loyal to the Prince, more of a reversion to the old ways. They’re worried about famine, and might be desperate, and so must be handled with care. I see, says Calvus. Is that door the only way out of the room? says Palpebra. And they might suspect my source, says Nil, so any dealings should either be final, or soft-pedalled. Let’s make it final, says Palpebra. Rather than letting on what we know, says Nil, we should make it clear we understand their concerns. Anyway, it’s Manu Tenére’s concern. Well, they should tell the priests themselves, says Nil. I could arrange for Lætitia to come speak with them personally, says Calvus. Oh, and my cousin was hoping to meet with them, says Ishta. She could help as well. Indeed, says Nil. Calvus suggests a message be sent to the Finger and Mrs. the Finger to let them know about the meeting he’s having with the Yanalli priests. Should I tell her about the conspiracy? says Nil. Why would we include her and not her husband? No, no, I just meant telling her, says Nil, but both, yes, most certainly. Could we have him moved to my study? Yes, says Palpebra.
I think Nil’s overreacting a little bit, says Ishta. The priests seem fine to me.
A message is delivered to Nipi, informing her of the meeting with the Yanalli priests; she goes to speak with the Finger, who’s in a depressive funk, drinking white baby like water. She tells him she’ll go to the meeting, so he can take the afternoon to shave and bathe and pull himself together.
Palpebra delivers the captive Judge to Nil, who’s prepared his room with heavy drapes to block out the sky. Nil asks Lhimpat to fetch his rosewood box. The Judge, still tied to the chair, is laid on his back. Nil starts inserting needles into the Judge’s ear canal. He asks Lhimpat to roll out the paper. Palpebra describes the interrogation of the three candidates, what they learned, how they selected the most likely candidate once the Judge had converted them all. This one is young, has no parents, was in fine mental health and physical health aside from the missing foot. (“We only had to cut off the one,” says Palpebra.) Nil sets up the Judge to be read over a couple of long, boring hours, and Palpebra offers to leave his guard. Nil asks if Palpebra could give him a connection, to facilitate communication; Palpebra isn’t too sure, so Nil gives him a shell. Thanks, says Palpebra. You need me, you can always reach me through Claudio, my assistant. —If you do decide to unstitch his lips, be careful. Of course, says Nil. Because among other things, he’s a biter.
Ndapé introduces the magi and the priests to each other. Yabo’kachi is dressed ritually: white gauze, bare feet. Wahalla’s belligerantly drunk. Shoka’s jerking her foot repeatedly. Okakmi’s worn out from a night full of bad dreams. Iiba-lokshi’s impressed to meet the Calvus. —Some discussion of how important it is to have a town that’s peaceful enough to pickle in, dammit. The priests want to know what’s happened to all the other priests from Naapiisachi. Calvus and Ishta promise to look into it all. How quickly do you intend to have things settled? asks the Yanalli Brewer. There’s a knock at the door. Ndapé goes to answer it: it’s Palpebra, who informs Ndapé that the Judge in the Valley is on the move. Ndapé tells Calvus, who promises to cut the meeting short as soon as he can, and asks Ndapé to summon the magi to the council chamber.
Palpebra goes to Nil’s rooms to fetch him, but Nil’s deep in the spell, reading the Judge, kneeling over his head. Palpebra fetches Gi to help him find out if something's wrong with Nil. Lhimpat lets them in and they see Nil actually kneeling on the Judge's head, work wires into his subject's ears. The Judge is sing-songing through the gag and his sewn lips. Gi goes ashen and is stunned by the scene; Palpebra asks if this how usually things were done. Gi, appalled, says no, doesn't think so, then goes out into the hall and vomits. As Palpebra discusses with his guard what might be done, Nil completes his spell. I’m done with him, says Nil, rolling up the paper. The guard points; Palpebra shrugs. The guard stabs the Judge in the throat, bundles up the body, and takes it down to the dungeons, as Palpebra heads out to take flight back up the Valley after the Judge.
Calvus and Ishta retire to Calvus’ room; Ishta’s talking about arranging a dance to raise morale. Calvus asks if Ishta is going to experiment with her lamp, she use the underground labs, and not the Great Hall.
Nil heads down to Gi’s room to apologize. Nil points out, for what it’s worth, there was little to no physical pain involved. Having your mouth sewn shut? says Gi. I didn’t do that, says Nil.
Okakmi’ and Iiba-lokshi are in the Great Hall, talking about the decimation of Naapiisachi. Nipi joins them, and pledges to do what she can to expedite an invetigation of what became of the town.
Servants are running about, summoning the magi to a council meeting. On their way down, Nil and Gi meet Nipi, who asks them to look into investigating Naapiisachi’s demise. It’s vitally important. We’ll do what we can, says Nil. Should I summon my husband to the council chamber? We need to see what kind of meeting it is, first, says Gi. Thank you, magi, says Nipi.
Gi then pulls Nil into an empty room on the second floor to make out; Gi needs to reassured and is having problems articulating it verbally.
Ishta sends a bird to Perdix with a note: buy as much clothing and bandages and cloth as you can and send it on.
Tully comes into the council meeting with a cat. Ishta’s got her lamp. Calvus is there already. Gi and Nil show up a little late and dishevelled. (“No,” says Jenn, “Gi has grooming spells.”) Tully wants to know who called the meeting. Palpebra, says Calvus. Sonata’s flutters in from the basement. Some discussion as to whether the meeting was intended for tonight, or immediately, since Palpebra called it, and Palpebra is already on his way to deal with the Judge, who’s on the move, toward Nemus Animæ. Likely because of my interrogations, says Nil. Who were you interrogating? says Sonata. A Judge, says Calvus. Footless, says Gi. —Sonata is brought up to speed.
Nipi goes to look for her husband, but he isn’t in their rooms, or the baths, or the Scarecrow King.
Nil brings up Naapiisachi. Calvus mentions the priests don’t remember what happened, but a unified answer is required. I’ve informed them we have no real answer, but that villagers went missing from the town the Crow was born in. We could say the Judge led them off to, says Ishta, trailing off. Precisely, says Nil. Do we admit to, says Ishta. Slaughtering them all? says Sonata. That would be unwise, says Nil. It would also be unwise to imply that Crow has struck twice, as that would cause panic. We should say they fought back and the Judge destroyed them, says Nil. That would have all the desired effects. Yes, but the Pickler from Naapiisachi implied the Judge had been there for almost a month, says Ishta. Which means there was a couple of weeks of them knowing, at least, while the Judge was walking about. That’s a long time to debate and fight. We could I suppose tell them there was a town meeting of some sort... Do you think one of them will stand up and say no, in fact, our people sided with the Judges! says Nil. But the people vanished, says Sonata. If there had been a fight, there would have been a battle. The Judges don’t make people go away. What do Crows do? says Gi. We could say the Judge incinerated them all, says Nil.
Gi asks for a briefing. Tully explains: the Judge had total control of the village, and was using villagers as shileds. How many people were killed? He had, essentially, and army of 1 – 200 people. And most of them were killed. I killed them, because I had no choice. She wiped the memories of the survivors, and I destroyed the corpses of the dead. —Nil gets up to leave the meeting to process his experiment. —It’s decided Tully will handle the Judge. Calvus will look into the towns attacked by the Judges. Gi will drag Manu Tenére into the story of what happened to Naapiisachi: the Crow struck, attacking the Judge, and Manu Tenére destroyed the bodies, and who knows why the Crow wiped their memories?
Perdix? says Ilba. How are we going to get all this back? You see those men over there? You see those crates? They’re going to repack all our bales of cloth and put it in those crates. And then you’ll spend an entire afternoon packing them onto the people-mover. Oh, joy, says Ilba. If you’d asked nicely, says Perdix. Ilba rolls her eyes. Perdix smiles. Did you really think I’d spoken with those ruffians and negotiated such an arrangement? You’re constantly surprising me, says Ilba. Well, watch this, says Perdix, and their shipment shrinks. Go put it in your pockets, says Perdix. No! says Ilba. You think the spell will break? Like all those times in the chest, and the castle... You pushed me out a window, says Ilba. Go fetch our things, says Perdix.
After Gi and Nil leave the council meeting, Sonata remembers to bring up the priest moon conspiracy, and some pieces are put together that Nil had tried to keep under wraps: namely, Nipi’s role as the Green Moon intendent. Nipi? says Ishta, who sticks up for her cousin. She’s just a social climber. There must be some mistake. I suppose, says Sonata. It’s been rather vague. There doesn’t seem to be any hostility towards us, and I may have misunderstood. Still, says Calvus, with her position as the Finger’s wife. Our family is very loyal to the Prince, says Ishta. They’re all loyal to the Prince, says Sonata. And she was in the Love and Reason festival! says Ishta. —I suppose they’ll get their miracle, says Sonata, if Gi will get Manu Tenére to deal with the aftermath of the storm. We just need to make sure they realize it comes through the magi from Love and Reason.
Sonata suggests they might at some point discuss the gifts Gi brought back.
Some discussion of goals: what we collectively might want from where we are, and how to get there. “It seems a little like we’re playing Sim City at the moment.” Why do we have refugees? —Yanalli fled before the Judges arrived, worried they’d be forced to turn on the Prince; the priests also wanted to force Nipi’s and Calvus’ hand in protecting the Valley. The folks from Yanalli don’t intend to stay any longer than it takes to restore order. (“Only that long?”) —Other plots: the pig herders (that will happen in Fall, along with the Hunt); the war itself, and the Savacions, and the Quintus Opacans, and the outstanding order for a Judge and a Miller; the Elearnoréan experiments; the return of Yem and his father; the outcome of Hurricane Lætitia; Nil and Gi’s Excellent Adventure to Here; the (eventual) return of Perdix and Ilba; further exploration of the magic of Nemus Animæ (and Sol Media Nox)—the ghost, and Gi’s trip, and the gifts, and the three apprentices.
It’s suggested to start off each session by focusing on a specific character, and go through the scenes that follow from that; if a scene does not suggest itself, return to that character (or move on to the next, as needed). —Giving the session an anchor. Jake suggests going around the room at the beginning of each session and having each player say what they’re interested in getting from the session, to provide some focus. —Number each plot and roll a die at the beginning of each session?
Tonight, because it’s Kip’s birthday, and also because Nipi’s is the most pressing plot, Nipi will be the focus character. We’ll go about the room clockwise, so next week is Jenn’s turn.
Also, some discussion of babysitting logistics.
Some discussion of Judge-magic: once a Judge prays to the Judge, the Judge can reach them through open sky. When the captive Judge is brought into the room with Nil’s Valley map, the Judge could do something small and ineffective through the sky implicit above that map...
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