Connect the Dots (Part 1)
Log Info
- Title: Connect the Dots (Part 1)
- GM: Aftershock
- Place: Leca'fi Amdamu, the Border Ethereal
Leca'fi Amdamu, the Border Ethereal
There's a certain logic in Telamon's insistence that any discussions be made 'in a secure location'. And to Telamon, it's pretty hard to top the Castle on the Edge of Waking. One gate spell, and the quartet are standing in a new courtyard outside the sprawling edifice, a fairy-tale castle wrought of gleaming white stone with ebony accents. The banners that fly from the towers depict the crescent and raven on sable of the Lupecyll-Atlon family, and the ghostly servants... look a bit more imposing, bearing large silvery halberds and shimmering mail armor. They snap to attention as the party passes by, saluting the lord of the keep.
Perhaps Telamon just wants to show off. He's not immune to wanting to share his toys, after all. Leading the group into the castle, down a corridor off the great entrance hall and into a large, well-appointed study, replete with comfy chairs, a broad desk, and a stocked sideboard. The half-elven sorcerer regards his guests with a small, impish grin. "If anyone would like anything, please speak up. In the meantime, though... you said you have news?"
Auranar feels at once comfortable here and at once... uncomfortable. Not because of the location though, but because of the whole... Situation of what she'd just seen. She's sitting in a chair that just 'appeared' for the situation and she stares at her companions with a shell-shocked look on her face and says simply, "One of you explain it because I still don't believe what I saw."
Corey has never gotten fully used to Leca'fi Amdamu. It's a beautiful castle. His silver eyes are practically shining like stars, although to describe his as such is to ignore the stars that are very present in Telamon's eyes. "Tea?" he asks as he sits down.
Auranar's question, however, prompts him into explaining mode. Which is to say... Corey takes a breath and looks at Telamon. "I think this will work best if we've got a chalkboard of some kind?" he says. "I like chalkboards for explaining things. Or patches of dirt and a stick, if I can't have a board and writing utensils. I explained the entire family tree of Dai'naiad to Karasu once with a piece of chalk and the floor of the inn we were staying at--"
Corey's cheeks color. "They did not like that I did that, and Karasu admired my fervor in the explanation but didn't fully get it. To be fair, the debacle that happens in volume three after the one-hundred year jump forward in time is complicated--" Then he shakes his head. "Anyway. I can explain if people like? And if I've got chalk?"
...Okay this is neat.
Given her experiences in the Vast, Magpie always gets at least a little bit nervous when told she's about to physically cross a planar boundary. As such, there was no small amount of wincing, when Telamon took them across a Gate. The wincing fell away to open-mouthed wonder, however, when the fairytale castle loomed up ahead of them. Staffed by ghostly halberdiers! That stand at attention! "How does one even start to get a permit for this?!" the gnome muttered under her breath, naked envy tinging her voice.
And it's not until they reach the study, and she clambers into an oversized overstuffed chair, that she even begins to scrape her wits about her enough to pay attention to words that people say.
And those words are a request for a summary of the Worst Fanciest Dinner -- The Fanciest Worst Dinner? The dinner that was interrupted by an actual demon, at any rate -- And she draws in a long, deep breath to start to explain.
Which is shortstopped by Corey's request for a chalkboard. "One sec!"
What follows is at least a minute of straining to make her imagination reality, as she lost all control of the last time she was in this particular planar corner of the universe. And all that results is, her face turns a fairly alarming shade of puce for a moment.
"...Aheh... Your house, your rules, Telamon? Eeeeeeheh... Anyway. The short form is, another demon possessed a Crimson Pen writer with delusions of journalism. There was a big scuffle at a fancy dinner place, Auranar and Corey were awesome, and Tanith ate the demon."
Telamon regards the trio with a touch of worry, particularly Auranar -- he's seen her nervous before, but not flustered like this. He rubs his chin, and offers Corey a smile. "Tea will be here in a moment. And since you asked..." He turns to one of the walls nearest Corey, his expression becoming faintly focused. The white stone shivers, and then ripples like water, a large chalkboard surfacing out of the wall with a small shelf under it holding several pieces of chalk. "There we go." And then the door to the study opens, one of those mailed servants carrying a tray with a teapot and four cups. "And right on cue..."
Telamon handles pouring the tea, as he nods to Magpie. "I've experimented a bit, and it only seems to respond to me -- though the servants will obey Lana's commands as well. I guess the castle can only have one lord or lady to be its steward. Something I might ask about if I get the chance." Fortunately, he sets the teapot down just as Magpie gets to the good part, and blinks. "Tanith... ate it? Wait, was this Koz'gon?"
Auranar picks up the tea and breathes it in for stability. "Yes, it was in fact." She says this very succinctly, very clearly, and eyes her brother so that he doesn't mistake her. "A tiny, gold dragon ate Koz'gone. Just chomped him down like he was a tart. Then rolled around like a spoiled child and complained that he tasted badly." She looks a bit bemused and cracks a small smile. "Which I really can't blame her for, who can imagine what a fiend must taste like? Particularly one that had shape-shifted itself into the form of a little beetle?"
"Oh! Excellent!" Corey hops to it, walking over to the board that is produced by the castle's lord and taking up a chalk piece. He starts diagraming.
Which starts with a very poorly rendered drawing of stick figures at a table. Which he conveniently labels 'C' for himself, 'A' for Auranar, 'M' for Magpie, and 'S' for Simony. "Okay, so we were there to draw out this weird individual who's been prowling around Magpie, as well as to celebrate the Society retracting the nonsense they were saying about her. Turns out our weird individual was..."
He draws another stick figure, this one labeled with a 'K'. "Kebba Hairte, writer for the Crimson Pen! Including some of my favorites, like Gravity, which is actually really good if you don't mind having your heart torn out of your chest, stomped on, and then put back into your ribcage later. Anyway, she also apparently has been wanting to go 'legit' into journalism for a while. We were talking about things when I finally had a bright idea and used the powers granted to me by Gilead as his Warden--"
And then Corey draws little horns on stick-figure-Kebba. "Evil! Evil, evil, evil. Big evil. So evil it was actually giving me a headache. Simony accused Kebba of being Koz'gon, and then a fight broke out, and we succeeded in separating Koz'gon from Kebba, then I prayed to--"
Another scrawl on the chalkboard. It's basically a circle with stick appendages and two that look like they're supposed to be wings. Corey apparently didn't receive fine art lessons back in Llyranost. "Gilead, and Tanith appeared!" He helpfully labels his horrible Tanith rendition with a 'T'. (And then he draws some fish on the ground, because he's polite.) "She ate the bug that Koz'gon turned into. She was not happy, like Auranar said. Poor Tanny."
... Tanny? Did Cor'ethil just coin a new nickname for the dragon?
"Half retracted," Magpie grumbles. "They wouldn't budge when I asked for actual quarters in the Guildhall. And turns out, the whole mess was the Guild running scared. Turns out Albus -- remember Albus? The wizard in the book? -- was the target of the robbery that originally set my room on fire. And he's the last known surviving member of a trio of wizards who were all into diabolism, but like, in the 'punch a demon in the nose and then write down how badly it disliked that' school of diabolism. Anyway, apparently I kept the secret of him being 'alive' really well, because the Guild doesn't know he's differently-life-enabled, and the other two were already gone. One died last year, and the other went missing a few months ago. So Albus is the last, and the three of them made a course of study of making enemies of demonkind."
It's at this point Magpie remembers that she, if only notionally in this plane, has to breathe. So this exposition dump is followed by a loud, sustained intake of air.
"...So that's why Koz'gon -- Koz'gon, right? -- was following me. Probably hoping I'd leave Albus in a bookshelf somewhere."
Once again, Telamon has underestimated the world's ability to surprise him.
His eyes move from Auranar (wisely enjoying a cup of tea) to Corey (sketching out the world's worst diagram), and finally to Magpie (who's filling in some necessary details). After a long moment (and a sip of his own tea), Telamon exhales, collecting his thoughts.
"Well... first off, Tanith is probably no worse for the wear. Though I'm surprised she didn't immediately come to my house and demand fish to take the taste out of her mouth. She doesn't like bugs, especially fiend-possessed ones." Telamon thinks for a moment, before he continues. "I remember Albus. And... hm. If he made a habit of counter-diabolism, I would wager that fiends would not want that information passed around." He leans against the desk. "Which comes to an important question, Magpie. Where is Albus now?"
Auranar sips some more tea and considers. "You know, the mages may have answers yet for us. Albus and his friends, about the fiends they were hunting and beyond." She frowns a little, wondering what exactly they had gotten themselves into exactly she shakes her head. Knowing a group of elderly mages? It could have been quite a lot. She looks at Magpie. "Actually, they might have been tailing you to get to the meeting Magpie. If you were helping Albus, they might have been lurking about hoping that you'd lead them to the rest of Albus's friends or at least one of them."
She winces at the thought that Magpie might have been used in such a cruel way. "Luckily they were impatient."
"I mean... She could still come to your house for fish, Archmage," Corey says respectfully to Telamon. "I don't think there's a... How do you say it in Trade? Statute of limitations? on when Tanith wants fish."
Then he wrinkles his nose in thought. "No, expiry date. Where did I get statute from?" Corey shakes his head. "Anyway, I'm curious about that group. Dremarin, Kinkade, Frisgar... I'm sure Koz'gon was, too. After all, he tried to steal Albus from you, Magpie."
He finally puts the chalk down and goes to get himself a cup of tea, which he does in a manner befitting of a sildanyari boy from a noble family. Which is to say... The way he holds his cup of tea is rather similar to Telamon. Corey takes a sip and blinks. "I'm always amazed at how good the tea is here," he murmurs.
As the others speak, Magpie takes the time to avail herself of the offered tea, eyebrows climbing up to her copper-clad hairline. "...Y'know thinking about it, it'd be a bigger surprise if this wasn't the best tea that never existed on Ea. Why build a castle in dreamland, if you can't have the tea of your dreams?"
Then she looks to Auranar, and nods, nose wrinkling. "You're probably not wrong," she allows, then nods to Corey. "Both of you. And to answer your question, Telamon, when you've hid a book as best you can, and it's not good enough? You don't trust your security to things."
Standing up in the chair -- and toppling over at least once, because profoundly cushiony chairs are profoundly terrible surfaces to stand upon -- she sheds her ubiquitous backpack, and extracts a large tome. "Hey Albus, you're in a castle on the edge of dreamland. Telamon is officially the coolest arc-- sorcerer I know. It's his home. Say hi!"
Telamon moves around to sit in a chair as well, steepling his fingers. "Not every fiend has the patience, or the aptitude, for long term planning, Auranar. And when you know someone's weaknesses... it's a lot harder for them to execute their schemes."
He nods to Corey. "Case in point. It seems everyone wants to get their hands on Albus. He's the Ecclesian eagle of this story." Tel taps his fingertips together lightly, before grinning at Magpie.
"Well... I do like to indulge a little bit. But I always seem to find the 'right' kind of tea for the mood I'm in, when I work here. One day I'd like to simply host a grand party. No council of war, no meeting like this, just... merriment, if only for a day." He shakes off the brief sadness on his face, before looking to Magpie and the book. "Welcome to Leca'fi Amdamu, Albus. I wish it was under better circumstances."
Albus coughs as he's drawn out of the bag, and is by all accounts nothing more than a... well a book. An ignominious book entitled, 'Malice of Infinity' which is some title for a book containing a mage's soul. "Greetings and salutations, I do hope none of you are fiends or fiend-adjacent hoping to trick Magpie here." He has the sound of an old professor or something like that. The sort that has three hour lectures.
Auranar meanwhile smiles sadly at Albus. "It's been a while Albus. It's me? Auranar? We've met before. I'm sorry I haven't visited. I've been rather busy with my wife and trying to deal with the ever-present fiend-population. Helped deal with a few actually. I think you'd be proud." She smiles a little bit. "And other good things have happened too, me and Magpie should catch you up so that it's not all trial and no fun. It's been too long. Too long." It's been too long since she's done anything, longer than it seems actually, but she can't explain that without explaining a lot.
Corey loves three-hour lectures! It's not his first time meeting Albus Kinkade, of course, but he smiles brilliantly at the book like it just might be able to see him. "Hi Professor!" he says respectfully. "It's Cor'ethil Cari'thana, or Corey. I helped get you back to Magpie not that long ago, remember? No fiends here. Just friends. I know, it's only one letter off, but very different things."
He sips some more tea. "Man, I really have to learn where you get this stuff from, Telamon." He flushes a little. "It's okay to call you Telamon, right? I think Mother would be a little furious with me if she just heard that fall out of my mouth."
"Yeah it's safe to say," Magpie says, grinning, "that no demon in their right mind would pose as one of these three, let alone be caught by the others. And I'm pretty sure no demons have real estate on Eluna's own nature preserve. Speaking of... Hey Telamon, is there any chance you could give Albus something he can use to interact while he's here? I know it's not as simple as a cup of tea, but thanks to this nonsense my real research is stalling. And yeah Albus, you'd be amazed at what Auranar did to Koz'gor, just before a baby gold dragon ate him. I'd say she deserves a spot in the Iz Club. Auriz? Auz? So many vowels, but we'll make it work."
With a firm nod, Magpie applies herself to her tea some more. "But I think right now regarding the whole affair... we need to locate Dremarin. He's been missing, not declared dead, so it's entirely possible he's in some trouble."
"Indeed. We've met before, Albus. I am called Telamon Lupecyll-Atlon." Tel offers Corey a small grin. "You can call me Telamon if you wish, Corey. It is my name, after all. I was Telamon long before I was 'the Lord Archmage', and I prefer it to be honest." He takes a sip of tea, before continuing.
"If we need to locate Dremarin, I can start by seeing if he's in the Halls. But it won't work if he's not dead." At Magpie's request, Telamon opens his mouth, then pauses, looking thoughtful. "Maybe..." He puts down his tea, and stands up, thinking.
Then he reaches out, his hand making a beckoning gesture. His other hand moving, as if coaxing something. And then... strands of ephemeral matter begin to appear out of thin air. Filmy thin at first, as fine as spidersilk. Gradually, humming to himself, he folds and winds the threads around and around... crafting what looks like a marble statue of an old man, draped in robes. The arms are outstretched, as if to cradle something. "Put the book into its hands, Magpie," he instructs. "It's a bit crude, but he'll at least have sight and hearing, and some mobility."
From the moment that the book is placed in to the arms of the simulacrum, it shifts, creaking, moving and then it's eyes 'open'. It's a tad unsteady at first, but then as if learning from its mistakes it grows in mobility. "Oh. Oh my." Albus nods and then smiles a makes shift smile at Telamon and nods in gratitude to him. "I've learned to be cautious to whom I am grateful, but to you I am sir. This is wonderous. A dream indeed. I am grateful to Magpie for stolen glimpses of life, but this..."
Albus manages to look quite overwhelmed with gratitude even though he's just sitting there with limited mobility with his arms wrapped around his book. He reaches out and picks up a cup of tea and sips it. He sighs happily. "I can taste the tea. It's delightful. I feel like I have found heaven." Albus seems incredibly happy.
Auranar seems herself happy for Albus, pouring a bit more tea into his cup for him to warm it since he hadn't been intended to drink any really. His had been really an extra cup.
Corey is so happy to witness this approximation of life and function again for good Albus. "This is incredible, Telamon!" he compliments, marvelling at what he's seen for a moment. Then he looks thoughtful again.
"I think locating Dremarin in the Halls is a good idea," he says. "It seemed like he was the one that Kinkade hadn't really met recently. I mean... I'm still not entirely sure how Frisgar was alive? It seemed almost dreamy, that encounter."
Which makes Corey furrows his brows. "I wonder if Frisgar is still hanging around the Society." Which makes him then fearful for Frisgar's life. "What if Koz'gon got him?"
Albus coughs then politely. "Frisgar has been dead for over a year young lad Cor'ethil." He nods slowly and takes another sip of his tea. "It's true. He was dead before I went into my book by some many months!"
"Yeah okay," Magpie says, unable to wipe the grin off her face as she watches Albus have his first cup of tea in over a year. "Telamon, you do fantastic work."
"And Dremarin is 'missing,' whether he's in the Halls or not. It'd probably be good to start there, but... hm. ...Albus? Would you say the three of you might be considered 'legendary?' I mean if even half the stories you told me weren't just fiction -- which I doubt, mind, but you do tell a good story -- you guys did some amazing things."
Telamon sits back down, as he studies the simulacrum. "The one restriction is that this shell cannot leave this place. That is the boundary, I'm afraid -- and the price of dreams." His cheeks do pinken a bit at the praise, and he takes a sip of tea to cover his embarrassment.
"In any case, it may have been Frisgar, or it might not have been. Sometimes things are not cut and dried -- a soul can linger and remain, for fair reasons or foul, to complete something undone in life, or out of regrets for its deeds." He smirks faintly. "If you get the chance, stop by the Adventurer's Guild and review the account of that 'ghost ship' that came into port last year."
Tel tilts his head at Magpie. "You realize that if the others are dead, we could just ask them -- although there may be limitations. The Harpist usually sends a representative to ensure the souls are not being abused."
Albus thinks for a moment and smiles at Magpie. "I'm not so sure these days as to if we will fade into legend, but in my youth? I was sure we were going to go into history. We all were. Fiz, Diz, and Kiz. We were certain of it. The three of us were so sure we were going to write a new era of demon-slaying and peace. As I got older I became determined to write what I knew in a chronicle, to preserve some semblance of it for the next generation... So that what we did wouldn't be lost... But I failed too." His expression cracks into sorrow deep and wide.
"The hubris of the mage... I should have known better. I thought foolishly that wanting to do right would mean that I couldn't fail. I lost touch with Diz after Fiz died, getting lost in my work. And then... It was too late. Please Telamon, can you see if they yet live? If they are dead, perhaps they can help me peace together answers for young Magpie and yourself."
While Albus talks, Auranar pours him another cup of tea. This seems to have become the quiet duty that she has taken upon herself since she has nothing else to add to the conversation at the moment.
Corey notices Auranar tending to Albus's tea, and while it's quite rude in some circles for a man to jump to his feet and tell a woman to quit doing her work so a man can do it instead, he decides on another route. He makes sure Auranar's cup is full instead, pouring it for her and offering her a big smile.
"Just because you didn't succeed the way you wanted to doesn't mean you didn't succeed," Corey says of Albus Kinkade. "You still built something really impressive. You still fought fiends and lived. You had some terrific friendships, too. It's... Pardon the double negative, but it's not nothing."
He smiles fondly at the Albus-simulacrum. "I'm sure Telamon can get some answers for us." Cor'ethil has an almost unending belief in his friends and allies. It's the way he was raised.
"Also you didn't fail," Magpie says, nodding firmly. "I have a whole whole lot of plans for after we get you out of that book, Albus. First among them's gonna be taking everything you three learned, and building off it. It's the kind of work gets carried on by generations, y'know... It doesn't fade away that easy."
Looking to Telamon, the sorceress bobs her head. "I mean yeah, obviously we see first. I'm just thinking about backups, just in case. You never build a plan off expecting the water to be water, without figuring out what to do if it's thlabber."
...Magpie has not talked much about her jaunt across the planes, but clearly there have been some... lasting marks.
Corey's tending of Auranar's tea, as well, does not go unnoticed, and the gnome gives the paladin a bright, sunny smile of thanks.
"A failure? Not so, Albus. Ask Corey there, he'll tell you quite emphatically that doing the right thing matters. Even if you fail, because there is a difference between a physical failure, and a moral one. I would say you suffered the former... but never the latter."
Telamon rises to his feet, his eyes glimmering with stars. "I am honored to walk in your footsteps, Albus Kinkade. And I would strive to try and continue what you and your friends started." The half-sil sorcerer ponders. "I will need their full names. No aliases. I suspect it confuses the paperwork for the psychopomps."
"Ah. Yes." Albus clears his throat. "Ilzoqium Frisgar." He says the name with a great deal of fondness. A name of a dear, dear friend. Someone he's clearly known for years and years, perhaps even for decades or perhaps a half-century. He coughs and drinks a fair bit of his tea and looks to see if there's a cookie or something to be had before he states the next name, "And Evior Maxium Dremarim. Though.... He hates his middle name. Says it was pompous, so you didn't hear it from me." Indeed Albus looks a bit embarrassed to have given away his dear friend's secret. "I hope he at least is alright."
"We've no reason to really think that he's hurt." Auranar says gently. "Maybe he's just gone and forgotten to check in. It could be." She tries to offer the positive, but they all know that the negative at this point is far more likely.