At Nothing We See

Log Info

• Title: At Nothing We See

• GM: Aftershock

• Characters: Choler, Cuemoni, Fidget, Tlanexhuani, Zeke

• Place: Temple of Daeus, Alexandria

Zeke sits in the room dedicated to communion with the Dragonfather. The incense is readied but not yet burning. The bowl of water which he has begun to use of late sits before him, also readied. Receiving a petition for him to commune with the Dragonfather is not so strange, but still rare. Even those that wish to talk to the gods rarely actually take the step of seeking out someone to answer their questions.

Fidget - the petitioner - is different in that regard.

After some semi-rigorous examination from other clergy to reassure themselves that her request is serious, she has been at last granted her request. Zeke has been informed that she may wish to perform her own scrying spell as well, so he informed her in turn that he was coming with some... backup. Scrying does not always go as it is intended to. This he learned from a close associate of his.

Thus they are gathered here today for this purpose and he waits for Fidget to enter the chamber himself, flanked on either side by his kin. Tlanexhuani, and of course... his cihuaa and spirit-mate Cuemoni.

Choler arrives at a run, her bare feet making hardly a sound on the floor. She comes to a stop, and glances around self-consciously. She approaches Zeke, and offers a crisp bow at the waist.

"The Guild asked me to make myself available to you, Sunblade. What would you have me do?"

The colourful goblin, Fidget, peers around the door she'd been directed to. "Lotsa people in here." she mutters to herself, "Oh, there's the Zeke." she says as she spots him, and tentatively steps inside.

"I wasn't expecting so many, it's just a couple of quick spells. Barely any chance of it going horribly wrong." She says confidently, and adds in a barely audible afterthought, "Well...probably."

"Anyways, uhh... do you have any strong opinions on the order we do them in? I'll do the Scrying on this asshole, and you can do the Commune to get some ideas on how to deal with him."

Tlanexhuani would not decline an invitation or request from Zeke, and doubly so not one related to the Dragonfather. That is not to say that the temple is overly familiar to him, though. The hunched bluescale leans upon his spear for support, though makes effort to not lean upon it too heavily. His tailtip flicks and his eyes move about the room at both the interior and between those gathering or gathered.

Cuemoni looks somewhat nervous about the whole situation. At Zeke's side, she remains a cautious eye and wary soul. She's dressed in her full regalia for talking to and appeasing spirits, a careful stitching of furs and leathers with painted-on symbols like the ones that adorn her face. "This one must inform you that Cihuaa's communing is strong," she says. "He has been gifted in ways that many are not. The Shaman is able to speak to the Dragonfather himself."

She gives a sith-makar smile. "That may influence the decision that you make."

Zeke motions to one of the seats provided - a cushion on the floor for sith comfort - for Choler. "Pleasssse sssit. Watch. Wait. Act if necesssary." He nods politely to the goblin and then to the arriving Fidget as well. "Thisss one isss here to ssserve asss a voisce for the Dragonfather. Thisss one will act asss you choossse in order to aid you."

"Name's Choler!" The Goblin in a red gi bows again, and moves to settle onto the cushion provided. Sitting cross-legged, Choler rests the back of her palms, thumb and middle finger touching. And remains motionless.

"Ah, my choice then." Fidget frowns, she doesn't really know what she's doing here, "Don't most Communes speak with a deity in the same way? Different gods, different knowledge, but same twenty questions thing? Or is the Dragonfather special-" she pauses a moment, realizing that maybe some tact would be ideal. "Obviously, special to their followers."

While she thinks on exactly how she should approach this, she starts some preparations of her own by casting spells - quite a few spells actually, perhaps she's more concerned than she claimed.

"Oh, Fidget!" She introduces herself to the others with a little bow.

GAME: Fidget casts Mage Armor. Caster Level: 8 DC: 18
GAME: Fidget casts Tongues. Caster Level: 8 DC: 20
GAME: Fidget casts Owl's Wisdom. Caster Level: 8 DC: 19

Tlanexhuani slowly crouches to rest one knee on the pillow that is his seat. While not quite as relaxed as sitting, but more calm than standing and easier to rise. He is optimistic that all will be well. This is a temple of The Dragonfather, afterall. Though not all are so confident from what he sees with Fidget and her magic. "Iss all magic needed?" he asks aside quietly to the Makari next to him.

"A typical communing is usually with a servant of a deity," Cuemoni replies with a small nod. "Occasionally a deity themself may answer, but a servant is typically more likely. Unlike with a typical commune, this one has seen Cihuaa answer with short sentences from the Dragonfather." There's definite pride in her voice there. Her Cihuaa has a rare boon.

She watches Fidget casts spells and she takes her seat by Zeke. "Magic is magic," she says. "None of it will harm the spirits nor Cihuaa nor others, so this one is not perturbed by it."

Turquoise eyes then settle onto Fidget. "This one is Shaman Cuemoni," she answers. "It is good to meet."

Zeke notes the bevy of spells cast and blinks once in a touch of surprise before glancing at Cuemoni. Obviously there is more to this commune than meets the eye. "Fidget." He murmurs softly to himself. "Yesss, the choisce musssst be yoursss. Thisss one hass no way of knowing which will better ssserve your needsss." In fact, he's beginning to suspect that he knows too little about this entire situation.

He lowers his voice then, speaking to Tlanexhuani at his side. "Perhapsss sssome caution isss necessssary. Bessst to be ready."

Choler remains quiet during the proceedings thus far, eyeing the colourful Goblin chanting and gesticulating a variety of spells. Her gaze flicks from speaker to speaker, absorbing what information is given.

Try as she might, the Gobbo begins to look a little bored.

"Is it all necessary? I dunno really, I'm just not sure how many chances I'll get - so I figured I'll do all the spells I know that might help. And a few that probably won't, but you never know." Fidget says, wrapping up with one last spell before the main one. "Okay. If it's on me, then I Scry first. I'll probably have better questions. Plus with this many cleric and clericy-adjacent people nearby the 'will this fae murder me through the spell' question is less relevant."

"Wish me luck!" Fidget says, flopping down onto her butt and sitting a mirror on the floor in front of herself.

She intones magickal words, and draws her finger around the rim of the silver device, then finally producing a couple of drops of water from her hand and drips it on the shiny surface.

The solid silver mirror ripples as though it were as fluid as the drops that land on it. And then...

GAME: Fidget casts Shield. Caster Level: 8 DC: 18
GAME: Fidget casts Scrying. Caster Level: 8 DC: 21
GAME: Aftershock rolls 1d20+13-4: (20)+13+-4: 29
GAME: Fidget rolls 1d20+CL: (8)+8: 16
GAME: Cuemoni rolls Perception: (7)+8: 15
GAME: Choler rolls perception: (15)+3: 18
GAME: Fidget rolls perception+2: (12)+11+2: 25
GAME: Zeke rolls Perception: (3)+9: 12

The mirror roils with a sort of mirky fog. Nothing? No. The fog clears a bit and then Fidget can see... Herself? A vision of the back of her own head or so it seems. Her looking into her mirror, seeing herself looking into her mirror...

Cuemoni observes the mirror's display, and the sith-makar lets out a small noise. "Why would the scrying spell give this result?" she asks quietly. "This is odd. This one does not know much of arcane magic, but this one... does not believe the mirror should be doing this."

She hums thoughtfully. "What is the nature of your target, Shaman Fidget?" she asks. "Are they magically adept?"

Zeke peers at the mirror curiously, but can't make out the image well from his perspective. "What issss it?" He asks, looking from Cuemoni to Fidget and back again. "Ssssome-thing bad?"

Choler notes the roiling fog in the mirror, but seems untroubled. A communing or scrying is not her forte, and has no expectation of what is happening. However, her eyes are drawn to something behind Fidget. She inhales deeply, and then rolls forward suddenly, springing up from said roll and diving forward. Her hands come together with a clap. The wee being she was attempting to catch remains uncaught, the Goblin's hands passing through it.

"Gah... what is this thing?!"

Fidget stares into the mirror, trying to see something - anything - through the murk. She had to find and deal with this Fae. Something needed to happen to him, before something happens to her. The image resolves, and she sees herself. "That's not right..." she mumbles in confusion. "He's a Fae. A powerful one, I think. And he tricked me." she replies distractedly, noting that the image moves as she does, and that the image is coming from somewhere behind her? She nervously begins to turn her head, then whips it around to spot something small hovering in the air behind her, whirling to her feet and whirling her hand up to let a couple of wild bolts of flame loose at the small orb, just missing Choler's attempt to grab it. "What is that!? Is it from him?"

GAME: Fidget casts Scorching Ray. Caster Level: 8 DC: 19
GAME: Fidget rolls ranged: (8)+8: 16
GAME: Fidget rolls ranged: (11)+8: 19

A low voice that only Fidget can hear, and which she instantly recognizes purrs from around her ears. Seeming to come from thin air. "How impertinent you are, little one. Perhaps I was wrong and the only purpose you serve is that of a meal." The rays of flame hit nothing at all, and Fidget alone hears a mocking laughter in her ears.

Tlanexhuani does not know what to make of the mirror magic. The appearance of fog ...something, but not something he can make a determination on. Dragonfather Shaman Zeke asks the question Tlanexhuani has before he can voice it, but he rises and takes a small step forward. Just in case. "Trick how?" he asks Fidget as the one who knows more this than he does.

Cuemoni seems deeply disturbed by what's happening--as she doesn't catch sight of the orb herself, and her nostrils flare at the sight of flame being fired at something she cannot see just yet. "Fae?" she asks. "What type of fae, do you know? This one is not so acquainted with them compared to other types of nature spirit. Please be careful of the room!"

Indeed, the room is just as much Zeke's concern as Cuemoni's. That fire doesn't just stop, it keeps going! Hitting a wall and scorching it. "Take care Fidget, thisss one doesss not wisssh harm to fall upon any here, nor thisss room to take damage for holding usss." He looks around a bit, trying to see what might have provoked her. "Isss the one you ssseek here with usss?"

Choler squeaks in surprise at the scorching rays, and rolls away. "Hey, don't go using those in here. You almost singed me!" The Goblin slowly stands. "You can't see it?", she wonders of the others. "It's right here!" A gesture is made to a spot which Fidget may have been aiming at.

GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls perception: (14)+12: 26

"I dunno what kind of Fae. He was weird, and shiny, obsessed with Thoth. I'LL SHOW YOU IMPERTINENT!" Fidget tries to answer while the voice only she can hear taunts her, though it may look to an observer like she's gone completely mad. The fire has stopped, though. For now at least. "He was talking to us and Rune. He stole my name with Fae bullshit. And I WON'T BE LEASHED!" The goblin is hyperventilating, her eyes darting around the room, as if she's hoping the creature is in the room somewhere, hiding. "Try to eat me. Choke on me, you monster!"

"You forget who is your master. Do not push things lest I consider your efforts failed and take back what is owed to me little one." The voice says to Fidget. "Tempt me at your own risk."

GAME: Cuemoni rolls Perception: (1)+8: 9 (EPIC FAIL)
GAME: Zeke rolls Perception: (3)+9: 12
GAME: Tlanexhuani rolls perception: (2)+12: 14
GAME: Cuemoni rolls Perception: (5)+8: 13
GAME: Choler rolls perception: (2)+3: 5

Tlanexhuani blinks as he spots a small bit of movement through the smoke. Though he doesn't have much time to react to this before he is blinking again at Fidget's words. Could it be? He starts to move towards the small, angry, loud, and more visible one rather than the very small, silent, spherical less-visible one. "Peace. Be calm. Words... Words like weapons."

Cuemoni still cannot perceive, for all of her ability to see, what Choler is indicating. "Shaman Fidget," she says loudly, enough to cut through the chaos and noise. "Do not give into despair and chaos. Think! You are a Shaman of arcane magic. Assess the situation, measure the magic, figure out what is going on with the mirror. This one believes you are capable of it based on being able to cast the scrying spell. Someone only succeeds in trickery if you do not marshal up the calm and calculation to out-trick them."

She rises from her seat then, holding a claw out. "Spirit," she compels, "if there is one in this room. This one, Shaman Cuemoni of the Xiuhcoatl tribe, compels you to come forward and reveal your true identity. Do not hide."

Zeke rumbles with displeasure over how this has become so... messy. Yelling words instead of sharing them. Things which can not be seen. His eyes land on the scrying mirror and he lifts those same green eyes to Fidget. "If you end your magic, perhapsss that which isss here... or not here... it may go?" He just doesn't have enough information on what is actually happening. Is it a spirit? Alive, between, dead?

Choler sighs, and goes to pick up the cushion, putting where she originally found it, and sitting back down. Pulling her feet up so that she is cross-legged once more, she lets out a slow breath. "It is floating there." The Goblin gestures to a spot somewhat above where Fidget unleashed her fiery attack. "I... I am seeing where it is not, if that makes sense to you?"

"But if I end the magic, then I won't find out anything about how to beat him." Fidget says, the last hissed through razor teeth, "I tried calm and calculation, and that didn't get me anywhere but more wrapped up in his tricks. I ... remember the books said most Fae don't have a glowing aura the way he did. So bright. That tell you anything?" Fidget asks, trying to find some info that might inform the others what she was dealing with.

"Perhaps you have already learned too much for safety little one." The voice muses. "Now here you are trying to learn more no? Trying to disregard our agreement. It is far past time that you learn humility. If you will not aid Thoth, then I will call you Oathbreaker."

The words hold a note of finality to them, and the mirror... shatters.

GAME: Cuemoni rolls Knowledge/Nature: (19)+7: 26

"Still find," Tlanexhuani tries to assure Fidget. "Maybe not find now? This one know little, but this one-" and then the mirror shatters, startling the bluescale. And leaving him blinking. Again. "What say? What do?"

Cuemoni makes a rumbling sound in her chest at the mirror shattering, instinctively coming defensively to stand in front of Zeke. "This one is not studied enough on fae to know what type of fae it is," she says. "However... This one knows of only two types of entities that trade in names. Fae and fiend. This one is curious if the being you met is truly fae or if it is a fiend pretending to be fae."

Turquoise eyes fix onto Fidget. "That is the purpose of the communing you sought, is it not, Shaman Fidget? To ask questions of a deity who has sight of things to learn more. The scrying was not simply just an attempt to glean more insight before asking questions, no? All hope is not lost." Her voice is gentle now. "This one believes there is no reason to lose hope."

GAME: Zeke casts Dispel Magic. Caster Level: 20 DC: 22

Zeke shakes his head then simply back and forth. With a murmured prayer he beseeches the Dragonfather to clear the room of magic and looks at Fidget firmly. "We may not have long, sssso thisss one will be brief. We are no longer sssafe to ssseek anssswersss now. Thisss one will reconvene with thossse gathered here sssoon. Thisss one will sssend word. Thisss one will asssk the Dragonfather for you."

Here he rises to his feet and looks at Fidget. "You mussst go to the inner sssanctuary of the Temple where you can not be ssseen with magic. Come. We will keep you sssafe." As best they can... for now.

The Goblin in a red gi stands then, and stretches at length. "It left once the mirror shattered. I'm no expert on fey either, but I think it really has departed, for now." She looks to Zeke. "I am willing to continue on, if my services are still required. May I have some water? I sense we might be in for a long night ahead, and it would be well to remain hydrated." Bowing once more, she moves to clap Fidget on the back on a friendly fashion. "We'll get you free of this name-stealing fey. None to worry!"

It is gone. Someone said so, and Tlanexhuani no longer sees the sphere (though he has more trust in the first part). "Ssa. This one will help." It is confirmation to Zeke and (hopefully?) some assurance to Fidget.

"No! You can't do that! I agreed to your demands, and I didn't agree not to try and stop you!" Fidget yells at the air, and then the mirror shatters. The goblin looks over, feeling a mix of fury and fear, frustration and exhaustion. She slumps to her knees, and curses "Damnit." quietly to herself. At first, she doesn't respond to the offers to help, then she says "Yeah." with a little more energy, "It's not over yet." She clambers back to her feet and follows the way she is guided, but she seems a little lost in her thoughts, unusually quiet for the gobbo.

Cuemoni nods at Fidget, and a noise leaves her that's a bit like the noise that a sith-makar in charge of soothing hatchlings in a nest might make. "It is not over yet," she echoes.

She looks back to Zeke and offers him her claw. "Please let this one go with you, Cihuaa," she says warmly. "This one will go wherever you go in the aid of helping another." She's invested now--not just in helping Zeke, but in helping Fidget.

Zeke takes Cuemoni's claw and leads them further into the temple without further hesitation. In the end, that is what all of them are here for. To help Fidget, and to stop an evil - regardless of its size and scope - from claiming a victory.