<HollyhockGod> "What's that?" asks E'jah, as Montessa glares triumphantly at Fiona.
<HollyhockGod> It also means I have to edit the logs afterwards.
<HollyhockGod> HOLLYHOCK CENSORSHIP
<Ebba> "More tea?"
<Fiona> (what were the last few lines of last-times script?)
<HollyhockGod> "If you have acquired any Excrucian devices from the Deceiver-shard who attempted to infiltrate you, the only safe course is to destroy them, Lady Fiona," says E'jah.
<Fiona> "I've already tried."
<RyanSherbrig> "One would think you of all people would understand the potential value of studying the enemy's ways."
- RyanSherbrig gestures towards Montessa.
<HollyhockGod> "Many have attempted to study Excrucian Foci, but the bond they create with the user has almost always resulted in a full or partial subversion by Unbeing."
<HollyhockGod> "The risks far outweight the rewards for individuals with such crucial tactical value as ourselves."
<HollyhockGod> "If Lady Fiona is turned, your whole Chancel and Ymera are put in deadly peril, all for information you may not even obtain."
<Fiona> "I do not intend to 'be turned'".
<HollyhockGod> "In any case, since her objectivity is ruined by attaching her to a mind-altering device, it's impossible to perform a properly scientific experiment."
<Fiona> "but, if you have any suggestions as to how to destroy this?"
<HollyhockGod> "Yes, that's exactly what someone who'd been turned would say!"
<HollyhockGod> "Have you tried throwing it into a volcano?"
<Alexa> "Yes."
<HollyhockGod> "Ah. Well, that usually works.
<RyanSherbrig> "Of course, Monothaia turning would be horribly awkward."
<HollyhockGod> "I'll begin work on a proper destruction tool, then. I have plans for a delightful little weapon of mass destruction based on Hemlock. It should only take five days to construct."
<RyanSherbrig> "If not especially noticable. 'Oh, look, she's doused the chancel with destructive lavaflows again!'"
<RyanSherbrig> "Is she an Excrucian, or is it Tuesday?"
- Alexa grins.
<HollyhockGod> "But, until that time, I must insist that you remain at home under quarantine."
<HollyhockGod> "And I do mean insist."
<Alexa> "Fiona, you mean?"
<RyanSherbrig> "Nonsense! As you say, Fiona is far too vital to our efforts to be placed under such restrictions."
<HollyhockGod> "All of you, although in your cases it's largely to protect your Sibling."
<Alexa> "Five days?"
<HollyhockGod> "I hope Lord Entropy agrees. I am going to contact him now, and inform him that you'll be remaining within your Chancel for the period while I construct the weapon."
<HollyhockGod> "I think he'll agree to provide the necessary naval blockade."
<HollyhockGod> "…it's for your own good."
- Ebba sighs.
<RyanSherbrig> "E'jah. This will not stand."
- Ebba finishes tea with the Excrucian.
<Alexa> "Er, could you not involve the Big E? We'll do it of our own accord."
<Ebba> I'll take her home for a while, Ryan.
<HollyhockGod> "It would be better if there were witnesses, to ensure that your cooperation is a matter of public record and cannot be called into doubt by our enemies."
<HollyhockGod> "If it pleases you, I'll ask Gloria or Selim to be present as well as a neutral third party."
<Alexa> "I guess."
<HollyhockGod> "But Lady Fiona absolutely must be kept under quarantine, and preferably continually occupied so as to reduce the amount of time available for mental intrusion."
<RyanSherbrig> "Actually, that's a brilliant idea. Why stop there? Why not a racuous, five-day long party, to which everybody is invited?"
<RyanSherbrig> "Fiona can help with the festivities."
<Ebba> "This sounds like a good idea."
<HollyhockGod> "That defeats the purpose of the quarantine. I suggest bridge."
<Alexa> "A party could make it harder to spot if something goes wrong."
<RyanSherbrig> "Or, with that many Noble eyes present, we're that much more prepared if something DOES go wrong."
<Ebba> "But if things do go wrong, the help would be useful."
<RyanSherbrig> "Consider how quickly the Deceiver-shard herself was taken down because we had so many puissant individuals present."
<HollyhockGod> "Then you will no doubt be glad to have Joktan or one of his ilk orbiting your Chancel."
<Alexa> "Oh, I can't wait."
<HollyhockGod> "I am unwilling to negotiate on this matter. If you insist on holding to this course, you call your motivations into question… and mine as your ally. I shall not permit this. Good day.”
<HollyhockGod> E'jah evaporates, with only a "I shall see you on the morning of the sixth day. There is no need to thank me."
<HollyhockGod> I guess you can show yourselves out?
<Alexa> "Hey, what?"
<RyanSherbrig> "You have already cast your aspersions on our motivations. As well as casually slighted the entire practice of High…. oh."
<HollyhockGod> I guess you can't blame him for not wanting you to look suspicious when he's one of your big allies.
<HollyhockGod> OR CAN YOU
<Fiona> "Not one for negotiating, is he?"
<Alexa> "He leaves it up in the air as to what exactly we've agreed to, then complains about not negotiating and vanishes."
<RyanSherbrig> "Quite."
<Ebba> "I'm sure he's not suspicious of your practice of High Summoning. He's just worried about the scarab."
<Alexa> "I thought he was one of the reasonable ones."
<RyanSherbrig> "Oh, please. 'The Energies of Unbeing never fail to corrupt!'"
<RyanSherbrig> "I'm over half energies of unbeing, these days. Probably more. I haven't done a full spectrograph in a few weeks, admittedly."
<HollyhockGod> Things outside Creation aren't Unbeing; Excrucians are Unbeing.
<RyanSherbrig> "I also feel he's being more than a little hypocritical with a deceiever-shard bound up and gagged in the corner."
<Alexa> "Yeah. That's okay, I don't trust you either, Ryan."
<RyanSherbrig> "Surely she's as much of a threat as any focus."
- Alexa smiles.
<HollyhockGod> "I agree," says Montessa. "That man is a hypocrite."
<Fiona> "Perhaps that's why he's being stubborn on this?"
<RyanSherbrig> (And suddenly I think the invitations can say "The Party Lord Entropy Doesn't Want You To Attend!")
<Ebba> "I'm sure that'll bring out the crowds."
<RyanSherbrig> "It's completely unnecessary! It's not like you're hearing Pandora's voice whispering dark nothings into your ear or anything!"
<Ebba> "Shall we go, before Baalhermon shows up and threatens us with court again?"
<Alexa> "Let's get back home, anyway."
<RyanSherbrig> "Or whoever that Deceiver-shard wearing Pandora's self as a second skin was, anyway."
<RyanSherbrig> "Bah. Let them try to tell me what I can and can't do in my own Chancel."
<RyanSherbrig> "But yes, let's be off."
<HollyhockGod> Ride, ride, ride the space-whale!
<RyanSherbrig> (Five days later!)
<HollyhockGod> You arrive back in the Fire Isles just in time for the black iron ships to start circling in the distance.
<HollyhockGod> They don't hail you. They just circle.
- Ebba thoughfully leave some tea in a cozy for E'jah, for when he calms down.
<HollyhockGod> It looks like they'd prefer it if you stayed home for the duration.
- RyanSherbrig changes all the entrance codes to the chancel, in a bit of a snit.
<RyanSherbrig> (spending an RMP to do so)
<Alexa> (We have entrance codes?)
<Ebba> (Remember that chancel gates are usually guarded, etc.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Yeah, IIRC you need special magical words to get the whirlpool-gates to open or something like that.)
<Ebba> (You need to live there, or have one of the Worldwalker type gifts.)
<HollyhockGod> I think you don't need to spend MPs to change them, since they change on a monthly basis.
<Alexa> (I had this mental image of a big keypad floating in the ocean. :))
<RyanSherbrig> (Fair enough.)
<Alexa> "So. Five days, huh?"
<HollyhockGod> Or until Fiona completes her metamorphosis and kills you
<Fiona> (So, five days, then.)
<Alexa> "Unless Fiona goes mad and kills us all."
<RyanSherbrig> "That pompous and arrogant ass. And yes, yes, I realize I'm completely projecting, here."
<Ebba> Would that take less than five days?
<HollyhockGod> Confession Time: I enlisted borogove before the session started and we agreed that Fiona would start sabotaging the Chancel.
<Alexa> "Oh, Ryan, you're not pompous."
<HollyhockGod> OR DID I
<RyanSherbrig> "I won't forget this act. For our own good, indeed. Think of the work we could accomplish in five days! Wasted!"
<Ebba> "I seem to recall you getting a few of your 'fervent in the service of the Light' buttons being pushed a while back…"
<RyanSherbrig> "Potential lives saved, lost forever!"
<HollyhockGod> Didn't you spend most of last week on the beach drinking kahlua?
<RyanSherbrig> "We could triumph over Death itself! Not that I have anything against Marley- she's a very lovely woman; it’s just her ideas about inevitability in regards to her estate and human life."
<RyanSherbrig> (Maybe. Ryan's discreetly ignoring that right now, though.)
<HollyhockGod> …actually, I guess you've been fairly consistently busy since "Fortune's Fool" started.
- RyanSherbrig conjures some kahlua.
<Alexa> (You've suggested we've had some down time between stories, though.)
<Ebba> "Should we start planning for a party, then?"
<HollyhockGod> Yes, but there wasn't any between "Fool" and the trial story, and not much between then and EE's party.
<Alexa> "I think that's a bad idea."
<RyanSherbrig> "Nonsense. That would be a violation of our quarantine."
<HollyhockGod> A goat-headed butler, sensing your mood, begins setting out small tables for drinks and bringing a pitcher to fill with more kahlua.
<Alexa> "Thanks, Billy."
<Ebba> "Isn't it just Fiona that is being quarantined? Admittidely, the servants of Lord Entropy may be a bit zealous in enforcing that"
<HollyhockGod> The goat has long ago given up hope of not being given an apropos designation.
<HollyhockGod> He simply bows.
<RyanSherbrig> "He explicitly indicated that he considered us all at risk."
<RyanSherbrig> "He'll probably call Maliq or Vesper as his 'neutral third party', too, at this rate."
<Ebba> "I’m sure Vesper will be interestd in Fiona's well being"
<HollyhockGod> It'd be easier for you to bribe Vesper than for Joktan to do it! That's kind of like neutral.
<HollyhockGod> Monothaia rumbles.
<Alexa> "Quiet, you!"
<HollyhockGod> "What's going on out there?"
<HollyhockGod> "Are we being invaded? What did you do this time?"
<RyanSherbrig> "I'm half inclined to simply the spend the five days in the summoning chamber. I've been meaning to bind the Heart of Spring, or perhaps an Angyalka."
<Ebba> "E'jah is worried about Fiona's possession of an excrutian artifact"
<Alexa> "You know that scarab Fi picked up? It's from Outside. We have to stay here for five days in case it takes her over."
<HollyhockGod> "You did WHAT? Idiots!"
<RyanSherbrig> "I could probably summon something that could deal with unwanted bonds, too."
<HollyhockGod> "There's really nothing to do now. Just let me have her and you could go and find a replacement."
<Alexa> "Hey, watch your tone, lady!"
<RyanSherbrig> "Some sort of metaphysical psychosurgeon of the soul or the like."
- RyanSherbrig deliberately ignores Monothaia.
<HollyhockGod> Monothaia fills Alexa's blouse with mosquitoes.
<Alexa> "Hey!"
<HollyhockGod> Biting! Itching! And then relief as you burn them to ashes, presumably.
<RyanSherbrig> "I'm sure there was something like that detailed in the Antigrammatikos."
<Alexa> (Indeed.)
<HollyhockGod> "Don't blame me for the problems you created."
- Fiona moves to stand next to Alexa.
<HollyhockGod> "I've never put the Chancel at risk by becoming a breach in security."
<Alexa> "I wasn't blaming you, you stupid cow!"
<RyanSherbrig> "Monothaia. I am willing to overlook your eccenctricities such as burning down the entire chancel periodically. But attacks upon my Family I will not stand. And that still includes Fiona, for the moment."
<HollyhockGod> "I'm not going to be called a cow by a stupid mammal."
<HollyhockGod> "Nor can you order me around either, Sherbrig."
<HollyhockGod> "Given your current position, you don't have the moral high ground, in any case."
<HollyhockGod> "Go mend your own tarnished fences instead of bothering me!"
<Alexa> "You may have high ground, but it's not moral."
<HollyhockGod> "True!"
<HollyhockGod> Monothaia is evidently perfectly okay with that.
<RyanSherbrig> "Every day the question of why I'm staying here grows more and more salient."
<HollyhockGod> She does regularly kill thousands of people.
<Ebba> "Shall we have tea, before our arguments bring the fleet down on our heads?"
<Alexa> (But they get better!)
<Alexa> "Look, Mono, we're not blaming you for anything, and I can see how killing Fiona might look like a good idea. But we're not going to do that unless we absolutely have to, okay?
<Alexa> "So don't jump the gun."
<Ebba> "Anything violent, like an eruption, may give them an excuse.”
<HollyhockGod> "I'll think about it.
<Alexa> "Please."
<RyanSherbrig> (Cue volcanic eruption)
<HollyhockGod> Ebba's argument actually seems to find some traction with the volcano, and she calms down.
<Ebba> (can she kill Fiona? That Spirit 5 has gotta be hard to get through.)
<HollyhockGod> I think she has something like 15 MPs.
<Fiona> Spirit 5 + Durant.
<RyanSherbrig> (It would be interesting to see.)
<RyanSherbrig> (That's still a Word of Command if she wants a violent lesser creation to affect her.)
<HollyhockGod> There's a slight commotion coming from a nearby bookshelf.
- Alexa knocks back a drink.
<HollyhockGod> One of your books is vibrating!
- Fiona waits to see if that's Vesper showing up.
<Alexa> (Which one?)
- RyanSherbrig goes over to investigate.
<RyanSherbrig> (The Kama Sutra.)
<HollyhockGod> Sure, fine.
<Ebba> (A guide to summoning neomah?)
<HollyhockGod> As you open it, you see that it's shaking because it's trying to expand.
<HollyhockGod> It pops open to a random page and you see various letters of ink starting to grow larger.
<Alexa> "Oh, for the love of…"
<HollyhockGod> Taking the larger letters together, they spell out a message.
<HollyhockGod> "WARMAIN SHARD HAS ESCAPED. GLORIA WOUNDED. REPEAT URGENT REQUEST REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE. SELIM."
<Ebba> "How unfortunate."
<Alexa> "Shit."
<Fiona> "That's probably not a good thing."
<Ebba> "Now they'll probably try to claim Fiona helped her escape."
<RyanSherbrig> "Well, it's certainly not our problem. They've made that clear enough."
<Alexa> "Unless the shard comes here."
<Ebba> "Maybe we should retain our own neutral party, to assist in the investigation?"
<RyanSherbrig> "Like who? Wanda, perhaps?"
<RyanSherbrig> "Sorry, this entire event has left me far too bitter to be useful at the moment."
<HollyhockGod> Wanda knows how to get things done!
<RyanSherbrig> "You know, it would be nice talking to her again. Alexa's relevations have impressed me at least with her dedication to the Light."
<HollyhockGod> She knows all the things that have gone wrong in the past.
<HollyhockGod> Presumably this means she won't do them.
<Alexa> "She probably won't talk to us now, though."
<RyanSherbrig> "Indeed."
<HollyhockGod> Anything you want to do before the day ends?
<Alexa> "I'm going out for a smoke."
<RyanSherbrig> "Threat to existence and all that poppycock. They haven't seen me properly threaten existence!"
<RyanSherbrig> Just complain about the unfairness of the universe more.
<Ebba> "I'll see if Wanda wants to help us."
<Ebba> (erm, how to get a hold of her?)
<Ebba> (Write a nice letter, maybe?)
<Ebba> (Can we call her on the miraclephone?)
<HollyhockGod> I suppose you could sit down and try praying?
<RyanSherbrig> (I think Ebba's exemplar-memory would recall her Design, yeah)
<RyanSherbrig> (Or work it out by impossible logical-induction.)
<Ebba> (We also have Vesper's book, which should have it.)
<Ebba> (Is she answering the prayer phone?)
- RyanSherbrig conjures a nice mirror-and-prism structure and spends some time in Elemental form refracting as a way to relax.
<HollyhockGod> Prayer isn't like a phone, but no, you aren't getting a response.
<Alexa> (Alexa goes for a swim.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Probably busy killing somebody.)
<Fiona> (Fiona loiters in the gardens.)
<Ebba> Sigh- I'll go organize the chancel residents, in case Entropy’s guys try to sneak someone in.
<HollyhockGod> These things occur.
<HollyhockGod> Night falls.
<RyanSherbrig> (Our resolve is stripped! Only Ebba can save us now!)
<HollyhockGod> The black iron ships continue to circle the Chancel.
<HollyhockGod> As Alexa returns to the shore, she nearly trips over something in the dark.
<HollyhockGod> She lights a flame in her hand to take a closer look.
<Alexa> (A message in a bottle?)
<RyanSherbrig> (I was thinking a body)
<HollyhockGod> It's the body of Montessa Laud (or one of them, at least).
<Alexa> "Oh, crap."
<HollyhockGod> Her head was nearly severed from her body by some cause unknown.
<Alexa> (Is the head next to the body?)
<RyanSherbrig> ('nearly')
<Alexa> (Doh!)
<Ebba> (how'd she get in?)
<RyanSherbrig> (That will be Ryan's first question when he's alerted)
<Alexa> (Do we have an alarm button or anything?)
<HollyhockGod> If you'd like one!
<Alexa> (Actually, no, just a prayer to our True King, he can use Realm to let anyone else know.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Tempest. I actually did spend the points.)
<Alexa> (That's right! We should celebrate that if we don't all die.)
<RyanSherbrig> (All the more reason to celebrate now.)
<HollyhockGod> Lights flash in the sky! An orchestra plays tones of alarm!
<HollyhockGod> The Tempest rushes to investigate the scene.
<RyanSherbrig> Tasteful wailers bemoan fate.
<RyanSherbrig> Major divination! How'd this body get in the chancel?
<RyanSherbrig> (0 Pen, but then, dead Excrucians don't have Spirit. Although whoever put it here might have.)
<HollyhockGod> She had Spirit when she was alive, so you can't see then.
<HollyhockGod> From your perspective, an Excrucian suddenly appeared on the shore and then crumpled to the ground.
<HollyhockGod> Presumably she appears in your divination as the life leaves her body.
<HollyhockGod> Nobody else shows up even as a hole.
<Ebba> (And that's because she lost the protection of spirit, and became divinable, right?)
<RyanSherbrig> So she did appear here alive, but dying? Interesting.
<Alexa> "Perhaps someone left her on our doorstep. As a message."
<RyanSherbrig> "She appeared here, but already mortally wounded."
<RyanSherbrig> "Perhaps she was seeking out Fiona."
<Fiona> "Or to cause trouble?"
<Alexa> "Should we, er, search the body?"
<Ebba> (Arrgh! i've been mortally wounded; I'll go see Fiona?)
<HollyhockGod> No, she died here.
<HollyhockGod> She suddenly appeared to the divination as a result of being dead.
<RyanSherbrig> "Perhaps she slit her throat."
<Alexa> "Can you tell how long she's been here, Ryan?"
<HollyhockGod> About half an hour.
<RyanSherbrig> Major divination of the body and things on it! Anything of interest?
<RyanSherbrig> "About half an hour."
<HollyhockGod> There's a strange sort of imp-creature crushed to death under her body.
<RyanSherbrig> "I am inclined to send a message to the black ships circling our chancel inquiring why exactly they're letting Excrucian-shards inside."
<HollyhockGod> Looks like some sort of lesser shapeshifter, the kind that can turn into various useful tools.
<Alexa> "I was going to ask the same. Also, check if any of our loyal citizens were here at the time."
<RyanSherbrig> (Mini-Grix!)
<HollyhockGod> Yes, like that.
<RyanSherbrig> Major Divinations of our loyal (and any disloyal) citizens, to see if anybody was present!
<HollyhockGod> I think the Chancelfolk were all elsewhere so Alexa could skinnydip in peace.
<Ebba> (Was it a High Summoned imp?)
<Alexa> (She was wearing a bikini!)
<RyanSherbrig> (Hmmm, I see the appeal of Domain 5 now. Free Major Divinations are fun.)
<RyanSherbrig> (I think peeping on Alexa in a Bikini is still a crime punishable by immolation.)
<Fiona> (Also, Lesser Changes are cheaper too.)
<HollyhockGod> And Major Creations go from 4 to 2.
<RyanSherbrig> (Yeah. It's fairly nice.)
<HollyhockGod> The imp does seem to be from beyond Creation in some sense.
<RyanSherbrig> "Yes, Alexa, why don't you do that? Send them a burning bush with an only mildly accusatory tone. But it would be wrong not to inform them of this event immediately."
<Alexa> "Will do."
<HollyhockGod> Burning bushes sprout from the iron ship's metal decks!
<HollyhockGod> J'accuse!
<Ebba> (Erm, you don't have an evil scarab too, Ryan?)
<RyanSherbrig> (I thought we only had one.)
<RyanSherbrig> (And it was Fiona's. Unless she does want to give it to me or something.)
<Fiona> (If you ask for it.)
<RyanSherbrig> (Mind you, Ryan obviously doesn't have a proper appreciation of the Excrucian threat, and would abuse the hell out of it.)
<Ebba> (Had better tell E'jah that his escaped shard seems to have shown up.)
<Ebba> (Unless it's another one.)
<Alexa> "Message from the Fire Isles to the quarantine squadron. We've found a dead intruder, thought you should know."
<RyanSherbrig> (Excrucian intruder, even.)
<Ebba> (Does it have any distinguishing marks?)
<Ebba> (Did it drink tea recently?)
<RyanSherbrig> (Ha)
<Fiona> (Lack of a head?)
<Alexa> (Is it Anna Beauregarde?)
<RyanSherbrig> Major divination of stomach content!
<HollyhockGod> The body contains no tea.
<HollyhockGod> The head is still present, just dangling on a string.
<RyanSherbrig> "Either it's a different Montessa, or her digestive system is extremely efficient. Which I'm not prepared to rule out."
<HollyhockGod> Oh, wait, there is tea.
<HollyhockGod> I forgot Ebba gave her some.
<RyanSherbrig> "Oh, wait, there it is."
<Alexa> (Teahee!)
<RyanSherbrig> "It's just tricky."
<HollyhockGod> Tea is resistant to divinations; well known fact.
<Ebba> (See how useful tea is?)
<RyanSherbrig> (Ebba decides to go out on a date with the power of Tea.)
<Alexa> "Anything in her pockets?"
<RyanSherbrig> (He's so very British.)
<Ebba> (So it is most likely to be the escaped shard, I'll tell E'jah.)
<HollyhockGod> Hm, her pockets are full of biscuits.
<Alexa> "Well, that's odd."
<Ebba> (Biscuits from beyond! nom nom nom :d )
<Alexa> "Did you give her biscuits with the tea, Ebs?"
<Ebba> (I’d assume that that would have required untying her, or something.)
<Ebba> (So she probably came by the biscuits under her own power.)
<RyanSherbrig> "Well, once you've had tea, y'know."
<Alexa> "Are the biscuits from around here, Ryan?"
<HollyhockGod> It seems like they're the sort E'jah likes.
<RyanSherbrig> "No, I remember these as the sort being served in E'jah's waiting room. We use a different brand."
<Alexa> "Hmm."
- RyanSherbrig checks the imp to make sure it's actually dead and not just shapeshifting into the form of a crushed corpse or something.
<HollyhockGod> It's dead!
<HollyhockGod> You squish it just to be sure.
<Alexa> (Any response from the ships?)
<RyanSherbrig> I then encase it in beautiful pearl, the size of a small child.
<RyanSherbrig> "I suppose now we wait for responses from the ships, or E'jah."
<Ebba> (Is E'jah answering prayers?)
<Fiona> (This seems a good place to end for today?)
<HollyhockGod> No response.
<HollyhockGod> Yeah, this is a good place to cut off.