EVENT #12: INVOCATION - COORDINATION POST (PART 2)

[abraxasmods]

Event #12 - COORDINATION ( 2 )

go to the OOC Plotting Post or IC Event Log

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This post is for coordination while the event is ongoing, to prevent the IC Event Log from being overrun by OOC mod and player communications. The comments section will contain applicable comments and forms for you to reply to as needed.

Use this post to:

◎ Coordinate event plots with the mods
◎ Request a mod dice roll
◎ Investigate or interact with a plot point
◎ Submit noticeable actions
◎ Write rapid IC exchanges

If you have any questions, see the Questions thread on the OOC Plotting Post.

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Be sure to reply under your assigned category if applicable.

Mod Communications / Randomization

If you have something you want to do related to the event plot, you can communicate and coordinate with us here. This includes NPC meetings, requesting large resources, destroying the environment, or anything else that may require mod permission to proceed. If we can't accommodate a request for any reason, we'll do our best to offer an alternative!

You can also use this section to request a randomized mod roll.

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Interactions

Several interactions are available. For Part 2, there are fewer mysteries to uncover, but plenty to interact with to see what happens. You can interact with something as many times as you want, as long as there's a reasonable explanation for your character making their second attempt. Note that interactions might carry IC consequences, though we'll try to telegraph when characters are at high risk of triggering something. To interact, fill out the form, then comment under the corresponding item.

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IC Exchanges

Use this option if you have an interaction you'd like to play out, but setting up a standard IC thread would be impracticable. For example, if your character wants to speak to several people about an event they witnessed together, you might want to do an IC exchange.

Treat this like an informal IC network thread done in person, where character reactions, snippets of dialogue, and other details can be quickly played out and concluded in-game without committing to a full log thread. Exchanges are game canon, and can count towards Activity Check under the category of a Network thread.

Start an IC exchange

Using the provided form is optional. Begin a thread freeform if you prefer.

<b>Where & when:</b> (Where and when is this exchange taking place?) <b>Purpose:</b> (What's the reason for this exchange?) <b>THREAD START</b> (Write the scenario, your character's actions, and any dialogue as usual)

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<b>Player Name:</b> <b>Character Name:</b> <b>When:</b> (Approximately when is this incident taking place?) <b>Where:</b> (Where is this incident taking place?) <b>What:</b> (Describe the incident) <b>Link:</b> <a href="urlhere">Thread</a> (If applicable. Actions can be submitted without a thread if they're minor, for example if your character snores loudly every night.)

Comments

[princessvegas]

I'm all right. Geralt and Ciri got out. The guy I'm with said they're keeping lookout right now.

Not right now. Nocwich is more important. The ones that escaped are on the run, so I expect they'll be mostly out in the world, dealing with that. I can take them as they come. And I'll let you know if I need anything.

[cointosser]

[There's some short messages of exclamations where he isn't sure what to say. Only after Geralt messages him does he come back, because otherwise he'd lose his fucking mind.

One thing at a time.] Apologies for the delay. I see you're very right, and I needed... a moment. To speak to them.

[To put it completely calmly.]

Only if you are sure. I'll promise you the best room in Nocwich, then, should you come. I know you'll make yourself ast home, as you always do.

[He's still no complaint of her pleasing herself with their finances, and he knows Nadine is the same.]

At least get some wine. You may need it.

[princessvegas]

[ She doesn't blame him. She had to message Geralt first, and he didn't even try to talk to her while he was kidnapped and imprisoned and tortured for two weeks.

They will be having a Talk when he's not on the edge of death. ]

Once we physically find them, I'll come to Nocwich.

But Jaskier, if any of the ones who escaped contact you, tell them to come to the Horizon. I don't know exactly how, but I think being around me is helping them feel better. At least a little.

[cointosser]

I will personally be going to search for them myself, so I will keep you updated. I promise.

Ah. I presume you mean something more than the magic of a woman's touch? [She does mean to be serious, he assumes, but Jaskier cannot help the dip into ill attempts at humor. He's never been this ragged in his fucking life.] I promise, I shall. Their connection to the Horizon has been tenuous at best, but perhaps with their extraction from their holding cells, the connection may return.

I cannot imagine the Singularity will leave them all so stranded.

[princessvegas]

I wish it was that simple. Least I know how that works. [ She does not mind the joke. She also sort of does wish she was controlling it with her vagina, because then at least she wouldn't feel so clueless. ] Once they're out of whatever hole in the ground they got thrown down, they seem to be able to connect like normal. Probably some kind of warding spell on the area they're in.

The Singularity wants them back. It feels alone without them. Which is, you know, a little insulting, but whatever.

[cointosser]

That is my impression as well. Perhaps part of the same glamours that are keeping them so well hidden.

Alone? Are you inclined to keep the Singularity company, then? That's an... interesting way to put it. Though I suppose I never put much time into contemplating if a monolith can be lonely.

[princessvegas]

I have an idea of what might be happening with the illusions, but I can't explain it here.

That's where I've been this whole time. If you have any downtime, come by.

I hope this works!!

[cointosser]

[That certainly gets his attention.]

I'm coming now. You're not in your usual domain, are you? Well, I'll find you soon, easy enough.

[It isn't a difficult thing to guess. She is near the Singularity, and in its presence is where he finds her. Surrounded by a luscious white tent, as if to make itself an absolutely perfect target it all of this surrounding nothing.

He isn't sure what exactly tells him where she may be. Perhaps that is the Singularity itself, working its... magic.

She's here. With others, he sees, laying down.] A rather inviting space you've made. [It's Jaskier, so he doesn't hesitate to take a seat.] What is it? The thing you've discovered?

[princessvegas]

[ There's two of the escaped kidnapped dozing in piles of pillows right now, with Julie having imparted as much as of healing warmth inside herself as she could before leaving them to get a bit more rest. Their time here is limited, given the conditions, but both Geralt and Ciri are with them on the outside, watching over them. Sending them to her.

Steven is also present, along with most of her tiny pets and Geralt's wolf. Julie is helping Steven replenish the table of food and drinks, but she stops when Jaskier appears. She smiles, heads to sit in one of the further away cushion piles. Duke trots behind her, clambers into her lap, while the wolf parks itself next to Jaskier instead. ]

Thanks. Thought it should be nice for 'em.

[ They're all on a time crunch, so it's not surprising that Jaskier immediately wants details, but her brow furrows a little. The problem with what she can do, she has found, is translating things that aren't really translatable. The Singularity's thoughts and emotions, what it's like to navigate that space as a human. These strange planes she's not sure humans were ever meant to see.

She sighs. ] I don't know that discovered is exactly the right word, but. Okay, y'know that god that they worked out was used in the spells? Nikodaemus or whatever? Supposed to be the god of mirrors and illusions, I think is what they said. Well, I asked the Singularity to look for him 'stead of the folks that'd gone missin'. Just for a minute.

[ Steven helpfully comes by to supply two large glasses of wine. Julie takes a drink before she shakes her head a little, rewinds a second. ] Actually, first I asked it to find Josselyn Creed for me, but I don't think it really understood. I know that the native folks can draw on the magic, but I guess the Singularity can't really... feel 'em. Not like us, it feels us. I mean, usually it don't reach for anyone 'cept me, but it feels all of us. It knew they were missin' 'fore I even got here, back at the beginnin' of all this, around when Geralt disappeared. It asked me where they all went.

[ She suddenly seems to focus on Jaskier, like she's realizing that she's diving headfirst into the deep end before he's ever even dipped a toe in the shallows. ] I'm sorry. This is all a lot, I know. You can stop me whenever, and I can try to explain better. It's hard.

[cointosser]

[It is. For all her crassness -- and don't mistake that he doesn't appreciate it -- she has a very gentle, admirably feminine side to her. The more time he spends with Julie, the more it makes sense that Geralt took to her so quickly, when he hardly takes to anyone.

Well. Beyond a night.

Jaskier gives the familiar unicorn a little wave of his fingers as they pass, and without thinking, his hand falls between the wolf's shoulders, the white fur soft as it is familiar. It's been such a long time he spent time with the wolf he accidentally created, but he can admit that... he's very grateful it still roams. And that it has become so fashionable as of late.

He nods to her question; though the overwhelming amount of information has been exactly that, Jaskier has done everything he can to stay on top of it, to the point of recording what flies across his eyes when it does. There are books in his domain that contain extensive notes, and what he has discovered himself, as he found it out.

And after all that, the wine is sorely needed. He gives Steven a quiet thank you as he drops it off, and a wink -- if only so he feels a bit more like himself. The bartender is a very good kisser, after all.

He takes a heavy swallow from it. Then another.] You know, if anyone else said such a thing, I would accuse them of being rather self-absorbed. [But after his conversation with Rhy, and their search for Julie in the missing nothing, it is clear to him that she has a special connection to this monolith, the same way Ciri is connected to the others. Not the way Rhy is connected to the Singularity, either; it's as if the Singularity has been waiting for someone to come who speaks its language.

Thank god it's not Ronan instead That man seemed unhinged, and the last thing Thorne needs is an advantage involving the Singularity.]

No, no, you're doing wonderful. [He reaches to place a hand on her knee.] These are things I... well, suspected in some ways, and have gathered from others. And while I definitely would like to know how you became so close to it... that can be a discussion for a later day, with more wine. [Perhaps some shots.] Then, if I am following, you learned whatever you have learned from the Singularity itself? Or, rather, from the fact it could not find this woman?

[princessvegas]

[ A large part of the complexity has been created by Julie herself, spending so many months bonding further with the Singularity in secret. So many of the other Summoned, people she cares for and deeply respects, had told her to stay away from it, but she couldn't. She kept all those nights to herself, throwing herself deeper and deeper into the consciousness of a godlike being, learning all of its language and idiosyncrasies and moods. None of it was anything she expected to have to share like this.

But, like always, here she is, in a mess that's not of her own making but that she undoubtedly made worse for herself.

(Duke, forever sassy, sniffs in Jaskier's direction before he curls up on Julie's lap, his head lying on her thigh.)

While what she said was simplified, for a few reasons -- the Singularity also reaches for Rhy, but she's not sure if Jaskier is aware of the extent of Rhy's connection -- the truth is that there's a lot of it she doesn't understand on a much deeper level herself. ]

Well, it not findin' her was just a dead end that made me ask if it could find Nikodaemus. I already knew it could find us, 'cause that's what I've been doin' for two fuckin' weeks. Helpin' find us. That got me some messages people sent, and I was able to see things. [ Her lips purse tightly, as if images are flashing through her vision now. ] Askin' for a god was just a shot in the fuckin' dark. But... that got me somethin'.

[ There's a deep inhale, and she rolls her eyes to the sky for a moment before she tries to explain what she saw. ]

It was like, a whole different place. Like where I got stuck, 'cept it didn't look the same. I was in a desert. This was like... the ocean. Not the beach, the ocean. And it wasn't water, it was -- do y'all have mercury? Like, liquid mercury?

[ The only thing she can think to do is create a very, very old-timey thermometer, with a mercury core. She tilts it from side to side, makes the mercury slide around inside to show him. ] This stuff. Back home, we used it for a lot of stuff, but mostly to measure like, temperature and pressure. A whole ocean of liquid mercury is what I saw. And these big, silvery statues pokin' out of the water. A face with a lady comin' outta the mouth, both stabbed through with a sword. And a man, sittin' on a rock. He was holdin' his face in his hands, lookin' at it. There was a sort of coppery shield on his face. A fish skeleton, mounted on a display, but lyin' flat on a little sandbar thing.

[ Much like the desert she'd been trapped in, it's almost impossible to fully describe, and she knows it doesn't sound relevant. But -- ] Anyway, I think... I think those places, all the different ones we've seen, are where the gods live. They all have an arcana in the sky -- Nikodaemus is the Moon. I saw another place, a real long time ago, that had the Magician in the sky. The beach Rhy got stuck in had the Magician, too. [ The desert hadn't had one that she was able to find. ]

I'm not sure how the arcana plays into it, but I think that the illusion is usin' Nikodaemus to create a sort of bubble around the place they're in. A bubble that's reflectin' outward, like one-way glass.

[cointosser]

[Jaskier shifts himself, as if to get more comfortable, though even in the Horizon he is so wound tight that there is little hope of the smallest bit of comfort. His eyes watch Julie's face as she explains, his only expression change a twist to his brows as they lower, attempting to see what... whatever she saw.]

Yes, we have mercury.

[He may have elaborated once upon a time, but he only wants to hear more. And while it is an explanation of mercury -- used mostly for alchemical reasons on the Continent -- and his hands grip his leg tightly, he knows Julie will always get to the point quickly enough.

Anyway? Anyway? Jaskier's eyes grow larger, and he takes a break from staring her down to rub his face. What the fuck does any of that mean?]

It sounds like a shithole, honestly. [He doesn't even make himself exhale an extra note of humor. He breathes. Tries to put what all of those things together might mean.

He doesn't have a single idea.]

And the Singularity is showing you this? Would that not mean the gods are linked to it by the same bond as ourselves? [Though it is a point he once wandered himself, long ago, in Thorne's libraries.] I had something similar in mind. Geralt said there are using glamours, and there must be something quite large and powerful to keep all of them in. It makes sense to me that the power of a god would be required for such a thing. But... I can't claim I know much of gods besides stories from home. I don't know what it means to... to defy one. To bring one's illusions down.

[princessvegas]

[ Look, Julie has spent enough time telling stories only to find out the other person had no fucking clue what she was talking about from the start. She explains out of habit now.

Her brow knits. She wouldn't call it a shithole. It had been very shiny and pretty. Just... weird. Extremely weird and abstract. Most of the strange things she's seen in these other places haven't really been good or bad, exactly. Just odd. Like they mean something to someone, but that she can't understand herself.

She nods, the stitch between her eyes deepening. ] Either they're linked like we are, or else they're pullin' so much magic that the Singularity can see 'em too. But I don't know where all of these places are. They ain't here in the Horizon. Maybe like, some other dimension? I mean, other than... this other dimension.

[ Julie sighs heavily. This is all such a mindfuck. ]

Back home, most of the big religions only believed in one God. Some of 'em had more than one, but here, it feels like every little thing has its own god. So, if Nikodaemus is the god of reflections, and they're usin' that to hide, then we would need to find... the opposite of a reflection. Right? What's the opposite of a reflection? A black hole?

[cointosser]

[They may have mercury but those on the Continent have not come to understand the experience of using fish nailed to boards as decorations. To him, that only portrays a sort of foul, permeating stink... and madness.

Jaskier breathes very deliberately, then nods.] Yes, that would be what I think, too. There are plenty of worlds, after all, and my own world has had the convergence of many. If their world is pushing into this one -- perhaps where the wall is thinnest, if it is as such in the Horizon -- those more sensitive to such things can begin to perceive it.

[Or, the more terrifying idea is these gods want someone like Julie to see it. Or the Singularity itself does.

This is so fucking far over his head at the moment, when all of his energy is going towards finding the lost, not thinking about gods. But he wants to dig his fingers into this, as well. Another step closer to understanding anything about this world.]

A black hole? That -- [Wait, Kylo Ren explained this to him once.] That which swallows light? I don't know. Would reality not be the opposite? The thing that the mirror reflects? Though finding a "god of reality" sounds a bit like a madman's errand.

[princessvegas]

[ Then that is Jaskier's loss. Some fish can sing from their mount, buddy! Don't worry, be happy.

She looks at her hands, not seeing them so much as simply fixating on a point. Her voice is staccato, actively working things out even as she speaks. ] Okay, so. The Horizon is in Abraxas, 'cept not really. Right? 'Cause we still wind up back there, so even if they're not exactly the same plane of existence or whatever, they must be linked. If not, we'd wind up other places when we try to go back. So the Horizon and Abraxas -- [ She links her fingers, as if to illustrate the concept of being entwined. ] And we're all linked to the Horizon. That's why, when we do end up in those other places, we eventually get pulled back to here, our own version of it. And the Singularity is linked to everythin'.

[ It feels like she's trying to do algebra in her head, which sucks because she had trouble with algebra when she did it with a calculator in school. She exhales sharply, frustrated and confused. ]

I don't know. I feel like we're on a wild goose chase. Maybe it's just better to hold off on that part 'til everyone's back. We just need to think about this one god. He's -- Maybe reflection isn't the right the part. He's the god of reflections and illusions. And the opposite of an illusion is... clarity, maybe? There could be a god of clarity. Like, a god you'd ask to help you see the truth?

[cointosser]

[Now is not the time to be happy!

As Julie goes through her clockwork machinations, he inputs a "yes" or "right" as she moves along. He's trying just as hard as her to connect all these random bits and bobs that feel as if they should combine into a one singular, working machine. Surely she's about to --

Not lead up to anything in particular.

Jaskier sighs. The master of all seven arts, but alternative planes of existence are rather far out of his understanding, beyond theoreticals... and those mainly surrounded specifics on the Continent, such as the monoliths, or the Convergence.]

Clarity. Yes, actually! Yes. I mean -- not that I know of, but surely that's the sort of thing that has a god. [Well, probably. The Continent also had gods of specifically themed animals, so who fucking knows?] I have mages I know rather well, though they're not in the Free Cities. I can contact them and see if they have heard of something similar. It may not go anywhere, but at this point, I have taken every lead I can find.

wrap?

[princessvegas]

I wish I had more for you to go on, but. [ She trails off and glances at the Singularity. It doesn't seem to know anything else she can use either, which is somewhat disappointing for an all-powerful entity, but Julie has begun to deeply suspect that all-powerful entities are really just as dysfunctional and fumbling as everyone else. Just at a much larger magnitude. ] I'll let you know if we find anythin' else worthwhile.

[ Reaching out, she takes his hand. They're all a mess right now; the absence of their people seems to ring so much more loudly than the presence of those left. It's lonely, even when they're all together. But they are together. ]