Brother Actually - Part Two

<Rand Brittain> Ah, good, we can go on with dreamsings, then.

<KreenWarrior> How's it going, folks?

<Benhimself> All right! GPNW was a blast last week.

<Rand Brittain> While you were gone, Dan had a baby.

<Benhimself> Impressive! Medical science has progressed far.

<Rand Brittain> Also the Ink-Lord was murdered.

<KreenWarrior> Which we were framed for

<Benhimself> And something about an Actual. Mmm.

  • Benhimself will note he has to leave it a bit earlier, ~10 EST or so tonight.

<Rand Brittain> The Actual story has been wating on you!

<KreenWarrior> don't we normally stop around 9?

<Benhimself> I think we've stopped later than that a bit regularly.

<Benhimself> Anyway!

  • Benhimself is now known as Dreams
  • You are now known as Hollyhock God
  • ADamiani has joined #lastmiracle

<ADamiani> With seconds to spare.

<Dreams> Yes. Clearly you can see we were poised on the cusp of entering play.

<Hollyhock God> We must, we must, we must increase our cusp!

<Hollyhock God> So, a return to the return of the Rose Actual!

<Hollyhock God> That didn't stop being a thing that was true or anything.

<Miranda> "Rose, Actually."

<Hollyhock God> :(

<Cyrus> ?

<Hollyhock God> One sec.

<Miranda> ?

<Dreams> Right. So Miranda's taken London off the grid: did we come up with a better plan than "Kill everyone in London" or such?

<Dreams> Oh, right! We were investigating where I had the tainted udi hidden.

<Hollyhock God> And I believe a few of them turned out to be missing.

<Hollyhock God> Not all, but some.

<Dreams> Mmm.

<Hollyhock God> Now, you must discover the truth!

<Miranda> I thought we shunted the shield into dreams. But taking London off the grid is cooler.

<Cyrus> (Cause we're so good at that!)

<Dreams> (It's been a few weeks, I'm willing to have my summary corrected)

<Hollyhock God> I think we determined that taking London off the grid didn't make sense as a shield against a mental contamination, but whatever.

<Hollyhock God> So, what steps will you take to figure out what's going on and doing something about it?

<Dreams> I will consult the cunning wards woven with mundane sorcery that I put on the place, hoping that the interluder overlooked them due to their nonmiraculous nature!

<Dreams> And perhaps hope one of my more Domain-endowed Siblings tries a greater miracle, although none of us have conveniently ubiquitous Estates. Hmmm.

<Dreams> (Greater divination miracle, that is.)

<Hollyhock God> Hm, it looks as though somebody came in, broke your wards sometime last week, and wandered off with a few coins, leaving the wards broken.

<Hollyhock God> Careless!

<Miranda> I suppose Immanuel could superheat them.

  • Dreams rolls up his sleeves, moves a painting on the wall aside revealing a set of spirally-eye-glyph-like things, and places a hand on them, deep in thought.

<Miranda> …what happens if we go into the Actual?

<Dreams> Did they pick up anything about who did them?

<Dreams> We… become it? It depends on the Actual, I suppose.

<Hollyhock God> I think it's more letting the Actual into you, but either way I guess you could try.

<Cyrus> That seems like a bad plan.

<Hollyhock God> They're rather effectively brute-force broken, but you can see that it was done last Thursday at seven.

<Hollyhock God> No data on who, though.

<Dreams> "Miranda. These wards were meant to shield my apartment, and they've been broken. Can you tell by who?"

<Miranda> What if we go in and we don't become it?

<Miranda> HG: Can I?

<Hollyhock God> It's a dream disease; does it even have an "in"?

<Hollyhock God> You could deliberately infect yourself, maybe.

<Hollyhock God> That might be a way to connect yourself to the other sufferers.

<Cyrus> (And a way to become an Actual. Though I suppose that's probably only one Divine Health Level)

<Dreams> ("Fighting Off Actualization (4))

<Miranda> I think I may still actually be down a DHL….

<Hollyhock God> And it could make your dreams come true!

<Hollyhock God> Which would be a good way for you to finally bottom out, really.

<Miranda> More to the point: I think Dreams could get us access to, well, "dreams" and I could protect us while we navigate to the heart of this thing.

<Miranda> But "Can I" meant: can I tell who's broken the wards?

<Hollyhock God> Yeah, it was Autoevolution.

<Hollyhock God> Man, that guy.

<Miranda> "Looks like Autoevolution."

<Miranda> "Man, that guy."

<Dreams> "What? But… why…"

<Miranda> (Autoevolution-Man! )

<Dreams> (Was he one the very new one, or was that Bill?)

<Miranda> (Or Autoevolution and Man, working together for nefarious purposes?)

<Hollyhock God> Bill was Conurbation.

<Hollyhock God> Autoevolution's name was Timothy.

<Cyrus> "Why would he do that?"

<Hollyhock God> Is boredom ever a bad answer to that question?

<Miranda> Yes.

<Dreams> Possibly dooming the world? Yes.

<Hollyhock God> It's a bad reason, but a very possible answer!

<Cyrus> "It seems kind of insufficient."

<Hollyhock God> Or maybe there's some dark secret! You don't know the guy very well.

<Immanuel> "I'm sure there are lots of good reasons to destroy the world."

<Miranda> "Regardless. We need to find him. Now. Bridges? Damn, he's missing."

<Miranda> "Secrets, I need you to——"

<Miranda> "OK, Commerce, can you look up his number in your—-"

<Miranda> "Right. Ambition. I need you to…."

  • Miranda sighs!

<Cyrus> (Hey, Henry's only semi-canonical now!)

<Miranda> (I only semi-said it then! :) )

<Miranda> (On the basis that I can think of how to apply his power set to the problem. )

<Cyrus> (Heh.)

<Miranda> (And your sheet really needs to be on the wiki btw)

<Miranda> "Well. I'm out of options. Has the epicurian society heard anything?"

<Hollyhock God> I can't even remember what that is.

<Immanuel> I thought I axed that.

<Immanuel> Twas my minions.

<Immanuel> In any case I could just check every fire in the world.

<Immanuel> So, that. Greater Incarnation

<Dreams> "Did anyone just… get his phone number at that party? Or Bill's?"

<Hollyhock God> I'm sure you've got contact data somwhere.

<Hollyhock God> Immanuel, what are you looking for, exactly?

<Dreams> (What treasure miracle is guidance? I could see if the Accords have their phone number or such, mmm.)

<Immanuel> Timothy apparently.

<Cyrus> (4)

<Cyrus> (No, 2.)

<Cyrus> (4 is getting some help, forgot the word for it)

<Hollyhock God> He doesn't seem to be near a fire at the moment. I doubt that's his thing.

<Hollyhock God> "Getting some help" is in fact the technical term for that miracle.

  • Lafing Cat has joined #lastmiracle

<Dreams> "Right. So I guess the question is how we want to confront him? If he hasn't been framed, it seems like there's a lot of that going around."

  • Lafing Cat is now known as Dan

<Miranda> (Phone.)

<Cyrus> "Should we check for an illusion again then?"

<Miranda> (Bridges!)

<Dan> (What have I missed?)

<Dreams> (Autoevolution did it.)

<Dreams> (Or SO IT SEEMS.)

<Dan> (Framed us you mean?)

<Dreams> "The simplest thing might be to just call him."

<Dreams> (No, the whole Actual thing.)

  • Dreams dials Tim's number, assuming he can find it.

<Hollyhock God> "Autoevolution here. Who's calling?"

<Dreams> "This is Dreams."

<Hollyhock God> "Oh! Uh, oh. Uh, how are you?"

<Dreams> "Oh, I'm all right."

<Dreams> "Hey, I don't suppose you stole some of an Actual from one of my aparments and unleashed it on London, did you?"

<Hollyhock God> "Actual? Oh, I, uh, don't know anything about that. Probably, uh, no big deal, though. I mean, who would steal an Actual if they didn't know what to do with it, hey?"

<Dreams> "Right, Tim, you're a horrible liar. What's going on?"

<Hollyhock God> "…"

<Hollyhock God> Timothy hangs up.

<Miranda> "Dan, can you bridge that connection through space?

<Dan> Which connection?

<Hollyhock God> The phone connection.

<Dan> (You mean you want to go where you just called?)

<Miranda> (Yes.)

<Cyrus> (For interrogation/intimidation purposes, I think.)

<Miranda> (Still distracted— phone.)

<Miranda> (Carry on.)

  • Dan starts walking there and relies on a bridge to show up as they normally do!
  • Cyrus has quit (Disintegrated: Leaving.)

<Hollyhock God> Wouldn't you need to use an Enchantment or something?

<Dreams> (I suppose he's relying on a Creation of Bridges, as per his gift?)

<KreenWarrior> (Am I actually in the chat?)

<Dan> (If I were trying to turn that connection into a physical bridge?)

<Dreams> (Yes!)

<KreenWarrior> (Good, said I disconnected so I wasn't sure.)

<Dan> (I was yeah, relying on my Gift. If I can't, I will enchant.)

<Hollyhock God> Hm, would you need an Enchantment to turn a cell phone connection into a physical bridge, or is that something else?

<Hollyhock God> I guess it's an Enchantment.

<Hollyhock God> You open up a line between Dreams' phone and Timothy's!

<Hollyhock God> You arrive at Timothy's location to find him hiding in a closet.

<Hollyhock God> It's a bit cramped with all of you in here.

<Hollyhock God> He is surprised to see you.

<Dan> "It's the 21st century Tim, no need to hide in a closet."

<Hollyhock God> "Hush! Hush!" shushes Timothy.

  • Miranda glares, silently, then.
  • KreenWarrior tries to avoid touching anyone and poisoning them.
  • Dreams enchants the conversation, such that it occurs within a slightly-hard-to-eavesdrop dream.

<Dreams> (Unless anybody takes a wound to resist?)

<KreenWarrior> (No worries.)

<Hollyhock God> "Don't let them see us! You'll ruin everything!"

<Dan> "Who is them, exactly?"

<Miranda> "Right, then. What are the odds a mental-contaminant can hear us in dreams?"

<Dreams> "Ruining everything is what we do when we get involved. And yet people keep trying."

<Hollyhock God> "You've walked right into a very delicate experiment! If it's interrupted, we'll lose all my progress to date out there."

<Hollyhock God> He gestures vaguely at the closed door.

<Miranda> "You're going to start talking. Now."

<Dan> "Your "progess" so far seems quite inconveneint for a lot of people."

<Hollyhock God> "Well, there have been so many factors inhibiting the progress of technological development, miraculous and otherwise. Entropy, Friction, Causality and so forth…"

<Hollyhock God> "I was trying to use the powers of the Rose Actual to bypass causality and make impossible techniques possible and repeatable."

<Hollyhock God> "In fact, it's happening outside that door at this very moment."

<KreenWarrior> "What techniques?"

<Dreams> "And did you have a plan for cleaning up after yourself?"

<Miranda> "Explain yourself, man. People are dying out there."

<Hollyhock God> "Well, this subject is a scientist who's been trying to cure death. And at this moment, he may well be about to succeed."

<Dan> "Isn't that the sort of thing that always and inevitably goes terribly wrong, even when it works?"

<KreenWarrior> "Especially in a comic book world…"

<Miranda> "Cure death before or after the subject is deceased?"

<Hollyhock God> "It would be pretty hard to cure it before."

<Hollyhock God> Why not just make the door transparent or something if you want to see?

<Immanuel> "Those are called vaccines."

<Dreams> "I reiterate my question. How, exactly, do you intend to deal with the Actual possessing almost all of London once your experiment is complete?"

<Hollyhock God> "Since when is it possessing all of London? That's not a thing."

<Dan> "Since yesterday."

<Hollyhock God> No, it isn't.

<KreenWarrior> (It isn't?)

<Hollyhock God> It was loose in London, is all. Not the same thing!

<Dan> So we're exaggerating.

<Hollyhock God> "You're simply exaggerating. Perfectly normal containment techniques should work to keep it safely harnessed."

<Hollyhock God> (Dreams is not at all sure that this is true.)

<Dreams> "Oh, come now. Surely the fact that you have to even say that should set off all sorts of warning bells in your head?"

<Dreams> "It's like a supervillain claiming that nothing can stop him now, or such."

<KreenWarrior> "What containment techniques are those anyways?"

<Miranda> "I am. Right now. Maintaining a shield inside dreams around the minds of london. It's not easy, and it's not a perfectly normal containment technique."

<Hollyhock God> Timothy goes on for a bit about various strategems involving mental containment and safety. Dreams is very uncertain about them, but it's hard to say for certain.

<Hollyhock God> "And consider the possible benefits to science!"

<Hollyhock God> In response to this dramatic cue, there is some shouting outside the closet.

<Dan> "…. aren't you a Noble?"

  • Dreams raises specific details of his concerns regarding the containment measures.
  • Dan says, as a half dozen miniature bridges pop into existance in the limited free space in the closet. "Some structure would be nice, but science isn't really the big picture here."

<Dreams> "But what about cognitive dissonance loops?"

<Hollyhock God> "That's only an issue if you don't allow for static icon discharge!"

  • Miranda narrows her eyes.

<Hollyhock God> You're 90% sure his methods aren't going to work. But not any more sure than that.

<Miranda> "Trying. To keep people safe. Right now."

<Miranda> Wait, so there's only a 90% chance of apocalypse?

<Dreams> "But the methods you propose for dealing with static icon discharge would interfere with the semiotic resonance array you mentioned earlier!"

<Dreams> "Would one of you discreetly see what's happening outside, at any rate?"

<Dreams> "I mean, the fact that we found somebody possessed by the Actual trying to blow up London bridge kind of disproves your point that your wards are sound."

<Miranda> If he's to be believed, opening that door would be Bad.

<Hollyhock God> Well, you wouldn't want to interrupt the experiment, now, would you?

<KreenWarrior> (what Aspect would it be to overhear what's going on outside clearly?)

<Hollyhock God> Much better to steal the experiment and complete your going-mad arc in a blaze of world-breaking glory.

<Hollyhock God> Oh, 2.

<KreenWarrior> (Super-hearing activate!)

<Hollyhock God> There's some fellow outside going on about how his work has been given life.

<KreenWarrior> "Well, whatever he was doing it sound likes he did it."

  • KreenWarrior points outside.

<Hollyhock God> Can't you make it transparent or sound-through or something?

<Hollyhock God> I'm sure somebody can.

<Immanuel> Well, if you need someone to burn it…

<Miranda> I'm sure it will explode on us eventually.

<Miranda> What is Timmy doing now?

<Hollyhock God> Basking in self-righteousness.

<Miranda> "Autoevolution. Explain what he's doing in there.

<Hollyhock God> Although not very well because as I mentioned it's a bit cramped in here.

<Miranda> (Wait, are we all in a closet?)

<Miranda> (That's…. hilarious.)

<Dreams> (Also, did he have a response to that comment that the Actual was already possessing people outside?)

<Hollyhock God> "It's all very simple. One scientist, dedicated to reversing death, one corpse, and a little drop of the Rose Actual in his dreams. And as you can see, it's been a success!"

<Hollyhock God> Clearly it's all your fault somehow.

<Miranda> "Yes, but we need to contain the Rose Actual. Which isn't working right now.

<Hollyhock God> "Well, what do you want from me? I've got some cleansing salve that seems pretty effective, although it's hard to make in bulk. What did you let it get into London for?"

<Dan> "I wonder if getting rid of that first revived corpse would accomplish anything…"

  • Dan mutters, to himself and his Familia.

<Hollyhock God> "Are you insane?" cries Timothy. "That was the point of the whole excercise!"

<Miranda> "We didn't, you did. You broke the wards."

<Miranda> "Where are the Udi, now?"

<Hollyhock God> "They're right here in my pocket, naturally."

<Dreams> (Would having the initial "infection" make it easier to help the rest of them?)

<Miranda> "They're already connected to the whole, aren't they?"

<KreenWarrior> (Apparently we were supposed to resolve the initial paradox, whatever that was.)

<Dreams> "I'm beginning to think it might be easier to just take this to the Locust Court."

<Miranda> (Oh. Right. Paradox.)

<Miranda> (Dude.)

<Miranda> (Seriously?)

<Miranda> (Sounds like: "I dunno if we should save the world, guys, let's let the Justice League handle it!" in a superhero game.)

<Miranda> "OK. What was the initial paradox that caused this actual to manifest?"

<Hollyhock God> Hell if you know.

<Miranda> I don't. Dreams, on the other hand…..

<KreenWarrior> (I don't know that the Locust Court would actually help anyways, just punish Timothy for doing it. And maybe not even that depending on whether the Laws cover Actuals.)

<Hollyhock God> If you knew that, Dreams probably would have cleansed it altogether instead of sealing it.

<Hollyhock God> But there's always just killing all the hosts.

<Hollyhock God> I was sort of hoping we could use this plot to close off your Project like you wanted to move towards.

<Dreams> (Yeah: Miranda has no interest in "Oh, look, I'm raising the dead!"?)

<Miranda> I'm trying to solve the first problem before seizing his blasphemous dead-raising technology.

<Miranda> Because I kinda figure it's going to blow up the world in the process of raising the dead.

<Dreams> (Yes, this totally doesn't sound like something Miranda would find an acceptable compromise)

<Hollyhock God> Timothy, having succeeded in his making-the-impossible-possible, helpfully offers you a pocketful of sealed udi and a jar of cleansing salve, guaranteed to destroy Rose Actuals (about two ounces worth).

<Miranda> It's suboptimal.

<Miranda> ?

<Miranda> Pause.

<Hollyhock God> Time obligingly stops.

<Miranda> OK, guys. Rand wants us to go through the door, and the plot won't progress until we do so, yes?

<KreenWarrior> So it would seem.

<Hollyhock God> Well, you could just make it transparent or something or otherwise verify the results of the process.

<Hollyhock God> Or be invisible. Or whatever.

<Hollyhock God> The main point of the exercise is to verify that this hideously-dangerous Actual-based scheme can in fact do technically impossible things.

<Miranda> Right. My instinct remains: dealing with the Rose Actual before going through the door. But since the plot doesn't work like that, I'm going to motion that we just go ahead and open the door.

<KreenWarrior> (Works for me.)

<Miranda> OK. Unpause, going through the door.

<Hollyhock God> Well, at least part of the Actual is behind the door, so it goes multiple ways.

<Hollyhock God> You find a scientist, with an unwell fellow strapped to a slab.

<Hollyhock God> Science has clearly been happening, and the patient, though ill, seems to be breathing.

<KreenWarrior> "Stop, fiend!"

<Miranda> "Yes. Also, explain your process."

<Hollyhock God> The scientist helpfully explains his process, which makes no sense.

<KreenWarrior> "That makes no sense!"

<Hollyhock God> Not a very good scientist, I guess! Although it evidently worked.

<Miranda> "Right. That makes no sense. How do I duplicate it?"

<Dreams> "Put an Actual in your brain. I don't recommend it."

<Hollyhock God> Timothy explains, sotto voce, that it works by the power of the Rose Actual, which makes dreams into reality.

<Dan> "Isn't that your territory, Dreams?"

<Miranda> "Yes, but Dreams can already do that. If that were useful, we'd have done it already."

<Miranda> "No offense."

<Hollyhock God> The Actual appears to be able to do so without regard for paradoxification.

<Miranda> ?

<Hollyhock God> Questions like "Where do you find his soul, then?" also appear to be skipped.

<Dreams> (Yes! We solve the problem of how to do it without summoning Actuals… by employing even more Actuals!)

<KreenWarrior> (Flawless!)

<Hollyhock God> That is, the Actual can make things happen even if they're self-contradictory.

<Dreams> "Well, yes, I could just transform Praxael's death into a dream, but that would involve breaking the world and letting in all and sundry horrible things such as the one Timothy here is employing to meet his ends."

<Hollyhock God> Or it can make them happening while ignoring certain practical constraints like "but where is his soul now?"

<Hollyhock God> For clarity, this is meant to be a temptingly bad idea rather than a sustainable good idea.

<Hollyhock God> You have a good enough chance of getting away with it to make you consider trying it, but probably not enough for it actually to work in practice.

<Miranda> While I think that formulation sadly minimizes what miracles are capable of, I'm not seeing the bad side. We use the technology, we raise Praxael, and we bottle the acutal.

<Hollyhock God> Yes, yes, exactly. :)

<Miranda> No, I mean, I'm not seeing the "Temptingly bad" part.

<Dan> (I'm tempted for Dan to go narrative here, but I don't think I will. >_> )

<Hollyhock God> Well, just off the top of my head…

<KreenWarrior> "Bottle the Actual" is one of those things that sound like a plan but is actually "Then a miracle occurs." I think.

<Miranda> (Please do, I've just totally lost it here.)

<Miranda> Yes, but it's our working plan anyhow.

<Miranda> It's not like we have a better option we'd be foregoing.

<Hollyhock God> You use the Actual to succeed in raising Praxael, and then your "finding Praxael's soul in the netherworld" device goes ding, and finds it.

<Dreams> You see how well bottling the Actual worked? We're still at "Kill everyone in London" as a very plausible plan B, and we don't actually have a plan A yet.

<Hollyhock God> And you realize you've got an alive Praxael and a dead one, and that makes no sense.

<Miranda> It's not "Destroy the actual! Or harness its power!" "It's bottle the actual now, or bottle the actual in fifteen minutes."

<Dan> You know what we could do with a live Praxael and a dead one? Autonecrophilia.

<Miranda> I'm not following, HG. Either it reunifies the soul with the body (which is apparently a problem otherwise) or it doesn't.

<Miranda> Also, did we get a 'finding Prax's soul device'? Because that would be kinda awesome.

<Hollyhock God> In that case, it doesn't. As far as you can tell, it makes a new one. But the old one is still out there.

<Hollyhock God> Hence raising unpleasant philosophical questions.

<Miranda> Oh, well, then it's useless.

<Miranda> Nevermind.

<Hollyhock God> That was just an example!

<Miranda> Back to bottling it now.

<Dreams> (Are we in London, right now?)

<Miranda> We're… wherever Tim was when we called him?

<Hollyhock God> You are very bad at being insane. Anyway, you have a bottle of Actual-killing salve and some tainted udi. The room has exists to N, S, and Closet.

<Hollyhock God> Bangkor, Maine!

<Immanuel> Walla Walla, WA?

<Hollyhock God> I refuse to believe that's a real place.

<Dreams> "Right. Enough talk. It's time to deal with this."

<Immanuel> USE SALVE WITH ACTUAL.

<Miranda> Wait, that was serious? He actually handed us a bottle of plot-negating save?

<Miranda> (/cry)

<Immanuel> A few ounces worth.

  • Dreams grabs the scientist-dude, and walks across the bridge back to London.

<KreenWarrior> (Is it enough to save London?)

<Hollyhock God> It's definitely not enough to rub on every person in London.

<Dreams> With a Greater Incarnation, can I check to see if the Actual's spread anywhere beyond London outside of this guy?

<Hollyhock God> I don't see why you couldn't.

<KreenWarrior> (Can I duplicate it alchemically?)

<Hollyhock God> There appear to be a few sporadic infections between London and Maine, but most of them are underwater, so, not likely to spread.

<Miranda> Underwater?

<KreenWarrior> (Fuck, they got Cthulhu?)

<Hollyhock God> Rather as though he travelled from here to there in a plane, and it sort of… dripped.

<Hollyhock God> Actual-drip!

<KreenWarrior> (Ew.)

<Dan> (Ew, indeed.)

<Hollyhock God> But as long as nobody thinks too hard about deep-sea creatures anytime soon you might be okay.

<KreenWarrior> (So can I use the Book of Elixirs to duplicate the stuff and if so, what miracle level is it?)

<Dreams> "Right. So, before I go through with my plan, which I'm not sure of the likelihood of working, does anybody have any better ideas? Alchemically duplicating that salve and dispensing it across London somehow or whatnot?"

<KreenWarrior> (Can you make an infectious dream of the salve and distribute it like that?)

<Dreams> (If only we had some sort of "Fire spreads out of control" property to emulate)

<Dreams> (I was considering it, but dreams don't normally have 'infectious' as a property)

<KreenWarrior> (right, wasn't thinking it through.)

<Immanuel> Well, I could make it Consumptive.

<Hollyhock God> I guess you could duplicate it, but it would be slow. Timothy said it took a long time to make, and it's presumably something he did with Treasure.

<Immanuel> But I'm not sure that would work out…well.

<Hollyhock God> You could just burn people's dreams. That would at least leave them alive.

<Hollyhock God> I mean, they might lose a few cherished ambitions, but consider the alternative!

<Immanuel> I could just try purifying them.

<Hollyhock God> I guess that would work, with enough Strike. Although it is boring.

<Immanuel> Yes.

<Immanuel> I could eat the actual.

<Immanuel> Right? Right.

<Hollyhock God> This Actual, although initially promising, seems ill-suited to the party's powerset.

<Hollyhock God> Next time I'm just going to send some kind of kaiju.

<Immanuel> You did that last session.

<Miranda> Our powerset has giant holes in it; our PC losses were our info-members.

<Immanuel> Though technically you sent us to it.

<Dan> Yeah

<Hollyhock God> Dragons and kaiju are totally different, you racist.

<Dreams> Well. My "plan" is to turn the entire city of London into a dream, since the Actual manifests in dreams, that would give it a 'physical' manifestation within dream-london. Which certain other members of our party could employ violence upon.

<Immanuel> No they're not, you eurocentric imperialist!

<Dreams> HG, does this seem plausibly workable?

<Miranda> …. Are you sure you can turn them back again?

<Dreams> Sure, I just stop sustaining the greater enchantment.

<Hollyhock God> …I don't see why that wouldn't work. Although you don't really sustain enchantments.

<Dan> or at worst, invoke a greater destruction of them being dreamlike

<Hollyhock God> I guess you could sustain one so that it would reverse when you dropped it.

<Miranda> Sacrifice.

<Immanuel> Hmm, shouldn't Dream be dreamkilling?

<Hollyhock God> Sure, that's at least a plausible plan.

<Immanuel> Oh!

<Immanuel> Let's find the greatest strongest bestest dream in London.

<Immanuel> And I'll make it eat all the other dreams and kick the Actual's ass?

<Miranda> No eating London.

  • KreenWarrior blinks. That's terrifying but awesome, I vote yes.

<Miranda> Besides, I don't want to have to fight the Kaiju Millenium Eye.

<Miranda> I'd rather we figure out what the paradox was.

<Miranda> But OK.

<Dreams> "Right. I don't know what form it will take, but it's passed to enough people in London that it should be noticable. Stand ready!"

<Immanuel> All of life's problems can be solved by eating or setting things on fire.

<Miranda> (Still kind of iffy on the kill-millions-of-people bit.)

<Immanuel> This is my Code.

<Dreams> (Well, that's what we're hopefully avoiding.)

<Miranda> (With your plan! Not the make a dream eat things and fight plan.)

<Immanuel> (No, my plan prevents us from having to kill anyone.)

  • Dreams takes a deep breath, and spreads his nature out through the city of London like a silvery mist, subtly transformative.

<Miranda> (It outsources.)

<Immanuel> (Unless it occurs after his plan where they're all dreams…)

<Miranda> (Ahhh. OK. Yeah, I thought that was what you were doing.)

<Miranda> (No, big dream kaiju fight would be kinda awesome and Ghostbusters-2 ish.)

<Miranda> (We'd have to figure out what the biggest dream in London is to jack up, though.)

<Hollyhock God> You find yourself in the dreaming city of London!

<Immanuel> If only we had someone who could dreamhunt!

<Dreams> (I figure we're on a roof somewhere, a good bird's eye perspective for the dramatic reveal?)

<Hollyhock God> It looks mostly the same, although quite a lot of people seem to have duplicated.

<Immanuel> We're on Big Ben obviously.

<Hollyhock God> Several people on the streets are being hounded by phantom duplicates of themselves.

<Hollyhock God> Following them around and complaining.

<Miranda> I assume the shield I created last session that we shunted out to dreams is manifesting here?

<Hollyhock God> Yeah, I guess those same people are veiled in yellow light or some other thing to indicate a mental quarantine.

<Hollyhock God> So, I guess they won't be able to fall in love or anything for the duration, but that's not so bad for just a day.

<Miranda> Are they the duplicates?

<Hollyhock God> No, they're the ones that have duplicates.

<Immanuel> They probably weren't going to fall in love anyway.

<Miranda> Weird. Are the duplicates the actual, or the original?

  • Dreams concentrates on sustaining the miracle.

<KreenWarrior> The Actual, I'd assume.

<Hollyhock God> Some duplicates are notably thinner than the originals, and others are taller. Some of them seem to be dancing. Others are dressed in professional garb of some sort.

<Hollyhock God> The general pattern is that they seem considerably more idealized than the real thing- each infected individual's dream of themselves.

<Immanuel> So we kill the pretties.

<Hollyhock God> Sure, why not?

<KreenWarrior> Yay murder

<Immanuel> No wait let's gather them all up and make a kaiju to fight Rose.

<Immanuel> I'll form the head.

<Hollyhock God> But surely they are the Rose.

<Miranda> Not even sure that solves things if the underlying paradox remains unaddressed.

<Miranda> But I'm defense. You're offense. This seems to be your baliwick.

<Hollyhock God> Resolving the paradox is how you remove it painlessly. Burning it out remains an option if you can't.

<KreenWarrior> Ah good

<Immanuel> So. Burning?

<Hollyhock God> I can't stop you!

<Miranda> Since we have no clue to pursue the other option.

<Miranda> Leave me a sealed udi of the thing, though.

<Hollyhock God> May as well seal it yourself, for freshness!

<Hollyhock God> Meanwhile, Immanuel kills dreams. They burn nicely.

<Hollyhock God> Oh, wait, that one knows kung fu.

<Immanuel> Well, I did want to form Voltron but I guess I'll set the fake London sun on fire.

<Hollyhock God> He does the graceful crane stance on your snout and kicks you.

<Immanuel> Is the paradox Kung Fu?

<KreenWarrior> That's reasonably impressive

<Hollyhock God> I suspect it's just some guy who dreamed of being Jackie Chan or something.

<Immanuel> And I'm too lazy to individually burn things so I've caused the light of the sun to make all Actual dreamy shit wither and die like a fish on the beach.

<Immanuel> I'm assuming it's daytime.

<Immanuel> If it isn't, well, I dunno. The next common thing in London. Tea.

<Hollyhock God> Immanuel's lazy miracles cause Actuals to wither and die. It's all very sad, I'm sure.

<Immanuel> You skipped the part where the dreams shriek and sizzle.

<Immanuel> And beg for their ephemeral lives.

<Hollyhock God> I'll allow you to create that imagery for yourself.

<KreenWarrior> Ouch

<Immanuel> And besides.

<Hollyhock God> Which kind of wraps up the Actual. It wasn't as terrifying as I'd hoped for.

<Immanuel> Dream can just make them new ones.

<Hollyhock God> I apologize for this.

<Hollyhock God> Next time, we'll just have a giant ooze.

<Immanuel> We can just say I killed the infection and we still have to crawl inside its skull and stab its brain.

<KreenWarrior> Well it didn't threaten us directly. And our powers made it difficult to engage with on non-brute-force level I guess

<Immanuel> I like stabbing brains.

<Hollyhock God> Trying to shift in mid-gear from a Dreams story to a Miranda finisher didn't help, either.

<Miranda> Yeah.

<KreenWarrior> Aye.

<Miranda> But we've got it trapped so we can use it in a big mess later, right?

<Hollyhock God> That's true.

<Hollyhock God> Arguably a Project Victory!

<Immanuel> We have to whip up new dreams.

<KreenWarrior> To the dream factory!

<Immanuel> You can use mine where I storm the Academy Awards and eat all the statues.

<Miranda> Arguably!

<Miranda> I'll take it. That's 3, right?

<Hollyhock God> I think so.

<Hollyhock God> So as it stands you've got the blood of God and a reality-warping plague.

<Hollyhock God> And an instruction manual is out there somewhere. It can't go wrong!

<Miranda> An instruction manual?

<Hollyhock God> Fehim's diary.

<Miranda> Ahh. Yes.

<Hollyhock God> Complete with step-by-step instructions, no doubt!

<Hollyhock God> Because last time nothing went horribly wrong, that is clear.

  • Miranda is now known as Adamiani

<Adamiani> Is there anything we can do about our group-composition weakness?

<Hollyhock God> Make more friends!

  • Hollyhock God seeks dinner.

<Adamiani> Ok, gents, next week!

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