(PrP) Bismark Revelations

[Aurora]

She lets Sand guide her, seems she had a few tricks up her sleeve.

Burning plastic. Never a pleasant smell, and her nose crinkles at the odor.

Then the name! Her heart beats a little faster, the Spirit she spoke with before mentioned the name! Eyes immediately look at the Spirit.

But what was the sound? Her mind tugs at her to pay attention to that, investigate it.
No.

Shaking her head, she focuses on what was in front of her. Whatever was coming could be dealt with. At least she hoped it could be dealt with. She didn’t want to hurt anyone, but if she had to, to get the answers, then so be it.

Tuesday speaks, and the Shaman nods,

“What my friend speaks is the truth.” She says, voice soft, “But I also seek audience with Silent Metal Vortex, I have questions that they can answer.” Yeah, she had repeated that name over and over in her head since hearing it. Making sure she would not forget it, “I was told they were the ones I must seek. So here I am." arms held at her sides, welcoming direction of whatever the Spirit wanted to throw at her, "Can you direct us to the right path? Or tell me what I must do to be granted an audience?”

[Sand]

Organic.

That was the word that came to mind for the tunnel. And not in the Frank Lloyd Wright thought of organic architecture. A philosophy of designing in harmony with nature. But in the creepy way that this tunnel was organic.

Not helping the creep factor? The smell.

Old newspapers- not so bad. It spoke of libraries and research and age. But burning plastic and shorting wires? Those were smells that called for an immediate cessation of an experiment and initiation of safety protocols for danger.

Also not helping the creep factor? The spirit (as lack of freak out from Tuesday and Aurora lent confirmation that it was their conversation companion from before).

Not only was there a lack of freak out, the two quickly resumed conversation. Which was good, since instead of running into a quiet spot to think and regroup, it seemed guards had been merely swapped for ... a mechanized drum line?

Odds were that that was not what the noise was.

So the faster they got answers, the better.

[Yumyumcrow]

The spirit seemed to stare. Seemed. It was hard to tell given the entity didn't exactly have a convention body configuration, let alone sensory organs. Yet peer it did.

<<The Duke holds our territory against all. The Duke does not speak. Not now. The Duke only leads the Chorus along the path. The Duke will only treat with emissaries of other Choirs in good standing and with those Who Serve A Throne>>

The spirit spoke the words without emphasis, as though it had not - or could not - grasp what the implications of those words meant.

<<The path continues from here. The Duke and the Choir will pass by soon and we shall join them joyfully once more. The path is narrow and long and ever changing around The Place That Is Not. It has ever been so. The Duke leads the Choir and the Choir follow. The path is protected. It has ever been so. This is the way of things. And it is good.>>

[Tuesday]

What they need is everybody knowing Forces or be wearing night vision goggles and know sign language. Because This. Right Here. Damning confirmation that the Seers have stuck their fingers in it and rattled things around.

The Duke. A Spirit (she thinks) is the Silent Metal Vortex that Aurora mentioned since. Talking about this Duke just after Aurora got her questioning on.

So. Waiting. For All Of The Spirits....yay or nay?

Without knowing which way the wind was blowing and Aurora's wanting to talk to the boss (whatever) in charge they'll prolly be staying.

"It is good." Tuesday intones a grim line to her usually cheery smile. While she hovers over the precipice to grasp once more at the gross strands of Time...

[Aurora]

Other Choirs in good standing?

She wants to reach up and rub her forehead, this wasn’t going as she hoped.

“What of those not in conflict with any Choir? Surly a neutral party can be given a few moments.” She really wasn’t neutral, but it sounded good.

But she didn’t have anything in her arsenal to make this Spirit help, not yet.

“But how do you know I am not in good standing? Not everyone goes around waving their alliances like a flag. Some of us keep those bonds a secret, for the wrong word can spark anger and violence. And shouldn’t the matter of my standing be decided by The Duke?” was this the right way to approach this?

She had no fucking idea. But they came here for answer, and she didn’t want to leave without some type of answer. There was hope that she wasn't putting her friends in danger.

[Sand]

An Indian parable...

A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. In the case of the first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said, "elephant is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.

Stop being blind then.

  5 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-01-24 10:02:11		Sand rolls 6 to Int + Occult (10 Again)		9, 2, 1, 9, 10, 8, 8		5 successes

[Yumyumcrow]

The spirit made a noise like the hum of bad electrics and the grind of stone against stone.

<<Why would you be in good standing, creature of flesh? But we warn you the Duke does not like flesh like you for you are not of a Choir. Any Choir. You are no moon-child and we are not forced to treat with you. You do not Serve A Throne for if you did, you would command obedience. So what are you? And why would the Duke want to speak with a thing like you?>>

The spirit looked at Aurora.

<<Do you speak for They That Serve A Throne? On whose authority will you treat with us?>>

Sand is quiet as the exchange continues and the sound of drumming (more than just drumming but those sounds are... not the sounds humans would make...) draws closer. Sand is thinking, her mind analysing the paucity of data at hand, spinning, whirring, like a clockwork calculator.

Organic walls.
Dim lights where there should be none (and strangely flaring lights at that)
Strange drumming.
Seeing the spirit before her, when she knows that she has no Sight upon her or Unveiling cantrip that could do such a thing.

Dimly, a warning voice dispassionately ponders if they have crossed some threshold into the Realms Invisible directly, for how else can she see the spirit, watch a Thyrsus speak to it on its own terms, without the aid of magic? The Obrimos gropes blindly for understanding, for a term she heard of that could explain the phenomena and their particular predicament.

Verge. A place where the Realms bleed into one. A place without a Gauntlet or a veil to mark the boundary from one Realm to the next. A dangerous place of cross over. If they had passed such a threshold (and come to think of it the passage they had started down had not quite fit with the other tunnels...) then they would be in...

...The Shadow Realm now.

And potentially at the mercy of whatever lurked there.

If only she could understand the speech of spirits....

[Tuesday]

Hazels spin between the Spirit and the others.

Damage control.

"I defer to Aurora, always. For she is greater then I." mind whirled. What to do, what to say? "But she is a being of kindness. Great in her mercy! Would you have her be something she is not?"

Tuesday thinks this'll help. Tuesday hopes it'll help.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2018-01-25 23:01:12		Tuesday rolls 5 to Totes believe me (Manip 3 + Persuasion 2) (10 Again)		8, 3, 8, 3, 4		2 successes

[Aurora]

Oh boy. This was not going as well as she imagined.

But then again, does anything really?

It was at times like this that she wished she was still an Acanthus, able to say just the right thing. Cause that would be really fucking useful.

“I don’t see the need to command obedience from anyone, Spirit or flesh.” she tried to stand a little taller, “I am Aurora, Shaman, seeker of truth, and bound to none. I don’t seek to control any that dwell here, only to speak with and ask questions.” Cause that was the truth.

“I speak on my own authority.” She was bound to no one, though it sounded like things would be easier if she was.

“I am in conflict with none of the Choirs, Grey Tower nor Warrens, and as such, believe that speaks for itself. And did I not help you find the Path once again? Surely that deserves a moment of the Dukes time. But if he deems me unworthy of his time, I will accept his judgement, no questions asked and leave, never to bother him again." She was helpful, that had to count for something?

Right?

Or was she playing a game she didn't know the rules to? Putting Tuesday and Sand in danger.

Either way, the Spirits words were making her uneasy. She could protect herself some from Spirits, but what of her friends? She couldn’t shield them, at least, not yet. Putting them in harms way was not ideal. Maybe they should have torn down that wall, or gone and spoke with the more friendly Spirits a floor up.

She was ready to protect her friends no matter what happened.

[Sand]

Suddenly the relation shifted.

Confronting Mortal Security Guards < > Running After Spirit into Darkness

Focusing technique:
a. Inhale for a count of 5
b. Hold for a count of 5
c. Exhale for a count of 5

15 seconds later:

"Guys- I can't understand it. But... I can see it. And I can hear it. And I can hear whatever that is..." motions to the corridor and the more than drumming noises. "Which tells me that we aren't in Kansas anymore and I really hope y'all know how to get us back? Before the Wicked Witch of this Shadow Realm comes hunting us." Whisper/hiss because that's what one does when suddenly out of one's depths.