Comet
Tenebrae - Monday, May 16, 2016, 8:59 AM
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=<* H05: Shining Chalice Observatory *>=--=--=--=--=--=--=-
This grand structure appears as an imposing grey dome with a cylindrical projection emitting diagonally upward from the top of the superstructure. The entrance is a hemispherical double door into the side at the end of a long walkway. Across the double doors in an ancient script in Kulthian. If you are able to read it, it is the phrase "Transcend Perception." Across the top is the phrase in the common script "Embracing the Way of Moon and Stars towards Understanding." The handles are patterned in the symbol of the Shining Chalice society, the sign of the Chalice flanked by crescent moons with a star rising from within in the center of the two, with the crescents as the grips by which entrance may be had.
The dome itself is ringed in subdued iron and bronze where it is apparently able to rotate. This solid ring glimmers dull, emblazoned with the signs of the gods. The symbol of Eluna is proudly situated above the entrance.
Within the Orrery itself one is greeted with an array of gears and knobs. It takes a lot to move such a grand telescope, but there is more to this place than just a telescope. There is also a formidable collection of scrolls organized under headings referring to regions of the heavens, the positions of major cosmic bodies, and the Soli Maximus. There is also a subheading that is largely vacant concerning the weather and the various impacts of the heavens on worldly cycles.
Raniq is standing in the middle of the room, absent-mindedly petting his ermine and staring intently at the ceiling.
"...and what's th' news, today?" Kerbasi is asking. He'd come in just a few minutes before, and is speaking with one of the Chalice cul--members. Yes, members.
The woman smiles in a vague way, before saying, "They suggest that it's not unwise to consider someone you trust to lend new perspective to an old concern."
Munch enters the observatory slowly and carefully. This looks like the sort of place he could do a lot of expensive damage very quickly... but he doesn't want to, so he's being careful. "...huh. That's a lotta gears."
Raniq notices others around, and looks at them with a somewhat bleary-eyed smile. "Well met, folks. As for the news, it seems there's some excitement among a couple of the observers. Something like a sign in the heavens.
Diemma comes in from outside, and brushes the day's rain from her shoulders. She marvels at the machinery around her. "A sign in the heavens? Something from the gods?"
The young Mourner blinks a few times, behind his lenses. He is still blinking when she moves to pat his wrist. She wears a homespun, though carefully stitched robe that hilights her sorcoral blood, with a chalice sewn into the upper corner. She says a few words--not that he catches them, and he's left standing there. Blinking.
It takes him a few moment, and then he's looking looking around the observatory and--"Oh! Lady's blessing to you, Ran...and uh, Munch and..." He fiddles with his hands. "Heh. Uh, Manus Diemma."
Munch nods politely to the various people, still peering around at all the knobs and gears and levers and assorted thingies that likely do soemthing very important. "Hey Kielbasa. What brings you out this way?" He idly glances around for a fresh corpse. That's a Mourner's thing, right?
Manus Diemma looks around the group, noting the ... unusual war golem, the young noble, and the young priest too. "Good day. What signs has the observatory recognised too?"
Raniq chuckles under his breath at the mention of Kielbasa, then shrugs. "I dunno. The meaning of portents takes considerable analysis, as far as I know. Although the way those folks up yonder are goin' on about it, I'm sure they'll be debating it for weeks.""
"Heh. Just...came here for ideas," the Mourner says with a look to the side. "Inbetween prayers, of course. What uh, what brings y'out this way?" he asks. Kerbasi looks to Munch with a smile, then the others.
Diemma shakes her head, a slightly puzzled expression furrowing her already furrowed brow. "Truly, I am not sure. Recently I have been following some ideas from meditation. This place seems as likely to provide answers as others."
Munch shrugs absently. "Was chasing a rabbit, ended up heading this direction, havn't been here before, figured I'd check it out. What's this lever do?" *click* "...what did that lever do?"
The whole room suddenly flashes with a bright luminosity and is a bit darker in the aftermath.
"That's uh...that's good." Kerbasi says. He wears a smile, that one priests are trained to use. That they practice in front of mirrors, murmuring: blessed be the kittens. It practically stitches into place when Munch goes *click*. He looks up overhead quickly.
"...just heh, ideas. I mean, a new perspective may not hurt." His right hand flexes, thumb touching knuckle.
The elderly nun raises eyebrows at the abrupt change in lighting levels. "Oh my," Diemma says softly, then turns back to Kerbasi. "This is my idea, too. The nature of magic, the origins of the divine. My studies at the Bardic College and the Library were interesting, but there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in my philosophy."
You say, "...should.... should I move it back? I'm pretty sure the lever is okay..."
Raniq looks upward again, watching the momentarily frantic confusion of the observatory workers, but keep his ears on the conversation here below.
Kerbasi's thumb circles the knuckle, once. "Heh. I'm sure they'll uh, take care of it. ...you think so?" he asks, directing the question to Diemma. "And what if y'were lookin' not in the Heavens, but in the dirt?"
Diemma twists her face to this. "In the dirt? Mourner Kerbasi, what do you mean? I look here for an insight into something of which I have no knowledge. Of the dirt, my knowledge is... forgotten."
You say, "Dirt's okay. Lot's a stuff in dirt. Lots of stuff in the sky. Most of the interesting stuff is between the two." The golem considers a few more seconds. "I'm gonna move the lever back." *crunk* "...um... it... it's back... but... I don't think it was meant to move like that."
"Oh, just a hunch, I guess. I've looked everywhere else, or think I have," Kerbasi says. He grins, looking too-young for a moment, there beneath his glasses. "Thank you for the uh--heh. The advice," he says to the Chalice member then, the women he'd spoken with when he'd come in. He glances at Munch out of the corner of his eyes.
Raniq says, "You know, the way those folks were carrying on, I would be surprised not a little to see something about it in the Tribune, one of these days." Then looking at Munch, goes on "As for you, you just might gain a reputation as a menace to Society." *smirk*
Diemma looks around the observatory carefully. "The dirt..." She thinks about this for a moment. "I should get back to my... er, the /city/ gardens. Sometimes work is the best kind of meditation."
Kerbasi glances at Raniq, and then, "I uh--" he says. Then, he smiles and makes his way out. A little faster than he'd come in.
Kerbasi has left.
Munch shrugs mildly, nodding to Raniq. "I've been called and abomination to the natural order and a pox to all life. I think he was just venting, though. It was before I really understood 'pets'."
A man up aloft points down at the switch that Munch just... broke, and then two big guys head from in in Munch's direction.
"Oh dear," Diemma says, simply. "We humanoids get very attached to our pets, Munch. I do hope you understand that better nowadays." She looks at the lever. "This place is rather admirable. I do hope you haven't broken anything."
Raniq smiles at Munch's comment and replies, "Well, friend, I suppose I just gave you another title to add to your collection." Seeing the approaching guys, he continues, "I think they're coming for you." Raniq's pet ermine nods in agreement to Diemma's comment about pets.
Whirlpool has arrived.
Munch really isn't too concerned. "I think maybe I bent it a little. I'm not sure what it leads to, but didn't look like anything important broke." A large barbarian with impulse control issues, in a sensitive observitory with fragile equipment. This was bound to happen.
As the guards get nearer, Raniq withdraws a couple steps.
Diemma looks at the approaching guards. "Gentlemen," she says, diplomatically. "My companion here may look frightening, but truly he means no harm."
Munch takes that as a compliment.
Arynel has arrived.
As the guards arrive, they look Munch up and down, then one gives the other a gentle shove. His companion says, "Uh. Sir, the deputy director has sent us to ask you to please refrain from touching things in here, and invites you to, um, move along elsewhere." He glances upwards toward the official.
The elderly nun Diemma puts on her best smile. It is warm like grandma's cookies. "Please, gentlemen, he is just clumsy. I promise he will touch nothing more whilst he is here." She gives Munch A Look.
Raniq lets out a soft whistle.
Munch nods in understanding. "Sorry, I was curious. Do you guys have like any info packets? Phamplets? That sort of thing? I've never been here before."
Diemma nods. "We would all like to see those. I would also like to know something of what you have just discovered. It... interests me, greatly."
It's about now that Arynel walks into the observatory and....sees the guards rush past her. "What is going on here?" She says as she tries to get a better look....especially at Munch.
The guards says, "Bro- shyoors? What is that, a disease?"
You say, "Little books that explain what you're doing here."
Raniq grins at the guard's ignorance and says, "I think this is a working facility. In any case, while professors do at times bring their pupils here to see the operations, I have never heard of the Observatory staff distributing brochures. It might be a good idea for drumming up benefactors and public sponsorship."
"That is because we are not." Arynel says to Raniq. She looks to Munch and tilts her head....and walking around the guards. "What is your name? Aren't you Munch?"
Diemma gives another short nod. "I agree," she says. "It's important to tell everybody what work is being done here. Particularly at this moment." She coughs slightly.
Munch nods to Arynel. "Munch the TerrorMaw, yes." he glances around at the various gears and thingamagigs. "I don't really understand this place at all. They look at the sky?"
Raniq says, "Yes, the sky. The stars and moon are often said to reflect events that affect the world. Oc particular note today, though, there seemed to be something about a comet passing by the chains of the great wolf."
Arynel tilts her head a bit to Munch. "yes, I remember running into you in the marketplace. It's a pleasure to meet you again. PLease be careful in here. The parchments are touch, but they can tear rather easily." She says as she looks at the telescope. "Yes. The sky, the stars and the moon. When it was first constructed, We made pain staking notes on the side of the moon we could see from here. Most of the Acolytes were excited to see that." She then looks to Raniq. "There's a comet giong by? Hmmm....the Acolytes should be keeping an eye on it already."
Diemma nods again, murmuring something under her breath. Those sharp of hearing will hear, "Now we get to it." She looks at Raniq carefully. "The Great Wolf?" she asks. "Caracoroth? What does this mean?"
Munch nods slowly, more or less following. "Okay, 'comet'... what exactly is that? A big moving star sorta thing?"
Raniq shrugs, "All I know is when I came in here, there was a general excitement about this comet and the wolf constellation. Meaning? That's a bit more philosophical that I can answer, but I'm sure they'll release a statement, the way they were carrying on."
Arynel thinks for a moment and makes her way towards one of the alcoves. She returns in short order and unrolls a parchment on one of the tables. "This is a comet, Munch. It's an ice ball hurtling around out there, but pieces of it are continually getting broken off....so it looks like it has a tail. Before you ask why it deosn't disappear since piece are breaking off of it.....the way it turns, pieces of it are broken off from the side facing the sun. But when it turns away from the sun, ice refreezes upon it. SO it never really loses it's composition."
Diemma's eyes widen at the explanation of the comet. For a moment, though, they glaze over slightly, and she takes a long blink. "I must take a seat." she says. "I am just an old woman, after all. Please, go on. This is most fascinating."
Munch nods slowly. "So.... somebody threw a magic iceball at a wolf and you want to know why?"
Raniq looks at the writing across the double doors at the entrance, and reads, "Transcend Perception". Turning to Munch, he says, 'That" (and he points) 'says, Transcend Perception, in other words, seeking meaning beyond mere observation. So, an iceball means more than a mere iceball.' <kulthian>
Diemma has disconnected.
Arynel shakes her head. "The Shining Chalice Society looks to the stars for omens and such, mostly because of our devotion to the seer aspect of ELuna. Thus, they're trying to figure out what the comet in the sky so close to the constellation of the wolf means. Usually a comet portends doom, I think.....and...I'm not sure about the constellation of the wolf." She then runs her finger over her nose. "Even in my time at Silvermoon, I wouldn't know what that means, even as a Diviner." She then looks to Munch. "Even being part of the Shining Chalice Society doesn't mean you know everything."
Munch doesn't quite get it. The metal man isn't dumb, but he does have a very... direct... view of the world. Portents and meaning and hidden signs are things he has a lot of trouble wrapping his head around. But, he's also stuborn enough to keep asking questions and trying to figure it out until he gets a grasp of the subject... or at least thinks he does. He may be here a while.