213 lines
9.8 KiB
Markdown
213 lines
9.8 KiB
Markdown
|
---
|
||
|
title: 00039
|
||
|
created: Sat, 19 Nov 2022 07:38:02 -0700
|
||
|
updated: Fri, 25 Nov 2022 07:11:12 -0700
|
||
|
syndicated: yes
|
||
|
public: yes
|
||
|
---
|
||
|
### 00039 {#00039}
|
||
|
|
||
|
> Alex silently observes the party and this foolish hobbit, before him
|
||
|
> three untouched drinks have accumulated. He's a little less
|
||
|
> enthusiatic about taking drink from strangers, too much risk in that.
|
||
|
> As Blavin describes this crystal, whatever it may be, he catches a
|
||
|
> glimpse of the pinkish purplish armband on the party across from
|
||
|
> them. They don't look out of place given the patrons at the tavern,
|
||
|
> but he's certain they were listening in on the animated conversation
|
||
|
> of the hobbit. It could be nothing, or it coule be connected to
|
||
|
> Corraidhin, best to put a bug on them Alex thinks.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> Silently beneath the table and out of site Alex prepares a bug and
|
||
|
> sets it off to follow the person with the armband. Once the bug
|
||
|
> catches up to the part it's programmed to perform a tcpdump and
|
||
|
> capture information streaming around it, and then report back to Alex
|
||
|
> once full. By no means a perfect method of spying, but it's low
|
||
|
> energy and can be maintained from great distances without taxing
|
||
|
> Alex's energy.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> As Blavin comes back to the group from his grandoise space commentary
|
||
|
> Alex begins to question him.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> Enough of your theatrics hobbit. Tell me about the mark, you've
|
||
|
> obviously tipped off the entire tavern as to the whereabouts of
|
||
|
> whatever it is you're looking for, so give us an edge, something
|
||
|
> those evesdroppers a table over don't have. And cut this tripe about
|
||
|
> your benefactor, who is he, and what does he want with this magical
|
||
|
> baubbles.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> As Alex finishes his questions he sits quietly for a moment staring
|
||
|
> down Blavin.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> During this outburts, as all eyes turn to Blavin for his response,
|
||
|
> Alex casts yet another bug. This one sneaks onto the personage of
|
||
|
> Blavin himself. Programmed the same way.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> We'll get information from someone, subtle, or not if needed.
|
||
|
|
||
|
~
|
||
|
|
||
|
> Inky watches with faint amusement as a magical device, likely a
|
||
|
> probe, found its way onto their mission handler.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> Inky might have missed the slight movement under the table if they
|
||
|
> weren't waiting for it, having received word of the younger wizard's
|
||
|
> penchant for pre-emptive offence magic. As it were, the offices and
|
||
|
> surrounding premises were routinely swept for similar devices, a more
|
||
|
> recent example of which had been placed in plain sight by an
|
||
|
> overzealous tabloid writer hoping to pick up an exclusive reveal. The
|
||
|
> quality of the contraption, which had immediately fallen apart when
|
||
|
> detached from its gum adhesive on the back of a glass vase, had been
|
||
|
> almost insulting.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> It seems Blackfoot hadn't learned his lesson after all, and if Alex
|
||
|
> was keen to give him a reminder, Inky had no objection. As Blavin
|
||
|
> takes another swig from his sixth drink of the evening, the waitress
|
||
|
> smiling at him with a wink as she set down their glasses before
|
||
|
> skating away to take another order (Inky made sure tip her liberally
|
||
|
> for the attentive service), Inky let their line of sight flicker to a
|
||
|
> fuchsia-coloured band on a departing customer's arm.
|
||
|
>
|
||
|
> Inky smiles internally at the sight — they can almost hear Beaker's
|
||
|
> crow of dismay. The poor kingfisher had been under increased pressure
|
||
|
> of late from other scientific associations and prominent speakers to
|
||
|
> exclude BAND from presenting at one of the largest annual ornithology
|
||
|
> conferences of the year on accusations of spreading misinformation
|
||
|
> and junk science in addition to attempting to erase the history of
|
||
|
> native bird tribes. There had been a huge row, which ended with the
|
||
|
> BANDits storming off, yelling about "the proof being crystal clear"
|
||
|
> and that they will bring "ancient arcane evidence". The Alcedinian
|
||
|
> researcher had lamented the halcyon days when conferences were
|
||
|
> avenues for scientific exchange, not twittering soapboxes. Not that
|
||
|
> anyone who had ever tried to arrange any gathering of birds of a
|
||
|
> feather really thought things simply glided along smoothly before.
|
||
|
> However, the advent of dedicated carrier pigeon networks had made it
|
||
|
> easier to relay research to and from smaller communities, opening the
|
||
|
> pathways for their participation, including a few somewhat
|
||
|
> Controversial fringe groups like BAND.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Alex attempts to shake down the hobbit, who titters merrily at his
|
||
|
demands.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"You know nearly everything I do, dear! Your *mark* as you put it,"
|
||
|
Blaven theatrically drops his voice as he looks around for
|
||
|
eavesdroppers, "would be the zephynos of Kelsun Peak should you
|
||
|
choose to go that route.
|
||
|
|
||
|
"If you choose to go to the moon, you'll have a harder go of it," he
|
||
|
frowns. He flips the map over and draws four circles in a straight
|
||
|
line. They have the proportions of a grapefruit, an orange, a
|
||
|
tangerine, and an orange. He jabs a finger at the grapefruit. "This
|
||
|
is us, here, earth." He points at the two oranges and the tangerine.
|
||
|
"And these are our planet's moons." He points to them in order.
|
||
|
"Selene, the Green Lady. Moonmoon. And Lua, the Red Lady. Recently,
|
||
|
as you well know, we had a super eclipse in which these four bodies
|
||
|
and the sun all lined up in perfect alignment. The combined magnetic
|
||
|
pull of the spheres allowed a rare commingling of the ionic spheres,
|
||
|
and our instruments were able to detect the crystal somewhere out
|
||
|
there in space. If I were to bet on it, I would put my money on Lua."
|
||
|
He points to the farthest moon, the Red Lady, with its own tiny
|
||
|
satellite, Moonmoon. He looks up at you and explains, "She's far
|
||
|
enough away that her ionosphere would never make contact with ours
|
||
|
except for in this particular, rare circumstance. That's why the
|
||
|
crystal has escaped our detection for so long."
|
||
|
|
||
|
"As for the Benefactor!" He brightens up. "He's a magnificent fellow
|
||
|
as you well know! A renowned collector. His wishes are to preserve
|
||
|
the crystals and protect them (and us!) from their misuse or
|
||
|
mishandling! He has a hot tub!" he winks at you. "Speaking of
|
||
|
crystals," he adds as an afterthought, taking another sip of his
|
||
|
drink, "why don't you hand that crystal over to me and I'll deliver
|
||
|
it to the Benefactor. That is what he's paying you for after all!"
|
||
|
|
||
|
<!--
|
||
|
Meta: Alex rolls Investigation 2 on the Ornithologer Trio
|
||
|
4, 5 = Mixed Success
|
||
|
//-->
|
||
|
|
||
|
The Ornithologer's Trio leaves Lucy's Basement quite oblivious to
|
||
|
their bug. The Ornithologer turns out to be the orator of their
|
||
|
little group, ranting about the conspiracy, the attempted cover up,
|
||
|
about how Big Science wants to convince you that birds are dinosaurs
|
||
|
but they're just pulling the wool over your eyes. The truth is right
|
||
|
there in the fossil record for crying out loud! All you have to do is
|
||
|
look for yourself. Nobody these days wants to *think* is the problem.
|
||
|
They just get their information from the authorities and take it as
|
||
|
gospel, but they don't see that the authorities have adopted a
|
||
|
narrative that suits their own ends.
|
||
|
|
||
|
At which point the groll interjects and asks what is the end goal of
|
||
|
Big Science, and how exactly does convincing the proletariat that
|
||
|
birds are dinosaurs help achieve it?
|
||
|
|
||
|
The BANDit scowls and answers, Look, you just don't get it, okay!
|
||
|
|
||
|
The three split up and go their separate ways and disappear into the
|
||
|
night.
|
||
|
|
||
|
You learn the following, one of which is true, one of which is false,
|
||
|
and one of which is meaningless.
|
||
|
|
||
|
1. BAND plans to intercept the CRYSTAL of VOID and use it to petition
|
||
|
the Insatiable Wyrm for definitive proof that Birds Are Not
|
||
|
Dinosaurs. In this way they shall shame their fellow
|
||
|
paleornithologists and earn their rightful place at the table of Big
|
||
|
Science, which they have spent decades undermining.
|
||
|
|
||
|
2. The Gnu Zealots intend to reverse engineer the power of the
|
||
|
crystals, create a newborn godling, and then release their findings,
|
||
|
thus laying the foundation of the world's first truly open source
|
||
|
religion
|
||
|
|
||
|
3. The trio seeks the crystals not at all, but in fact search for
|
||
|
Sitopotnia, creator and progenitor of the entire amaizeon
|
||
|
race---including corbits, aurs, centaurs, and others---and the only
|
||
|
mortal in the history of Basmentaria to successfully take the mantle
|
||
|
of creation from the overgods.
|
||
|
|
||
|
<!--
|
||
|
Meta: Alex rolls Investigation 2 on Blaven
|
||
|
1, 3 = Things go poorly, gain 1 xp
|
||
|
//-->
|
||
|
|
||
|
Meanwhile, Blaven slips out into the early, early morning carrying
|
||
|
his own bug. He whistles tunelessly to himself as he sails down the
|
||
|
street with a wide and veering but surprisingly steady gait.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Once he gets a few blocks away, his gait narrows and his step becomes
|
||
|
more lively, a bit jaunty. He stands upright and ceases whistling.
|
||
|
All signs of drunkenness disappear as he tugs on his sleeves and
|
||
|
straightens his vest, and runs a hand through his hair.
|
||
|
|
||
|
He meets a goblin catcher in the street going the other way, wearily
|
||
|
making his way home after a long night's work. He wears a tiny goblin
|
||
|
in a glass jar around his neck, as is the signifier of his trade. And
|
||
|
he carries over his shoulder a large cloth sack, the contents of
|
||
|
which writhe and kick. Looks like it was a productive night for our
|
||
|
goblin catcher! Blaven gives him a little bow and a salute, laughs,
|
||
|
and pats him on the back in passing, deftly transferring the bug.
|
||
|
"Good night for it then ey?" he calls cheerily. The goblin catcher
|
||
|
smiles politely, mumbles a nicety, and carries on.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Later, hidden safely away from spying eyes and listening ears, Blaven
|
||
|
sits at his desk, putting the final flourishes on a missive. He sits
|
||
|
back and re-reads it to himself, lips moving silently. He nods and
|
||
|
smiles, satisfied, and reaches for a stamp to sign the letter. He
|
||
|
presses it into a dark red ink pad and then onto the parchment,
|
||
|
leaving the image of an apple and iris. He sands the paper, carefully
|
||
|
folds it, and places it in an envelope.
|
||
|
|
||
|
WHAT DO YOU DO
|
||
|
|
||
|
Note: Feel free to back up and play out some more conversation at
|
||
|
Lucy's before Blavin leaves if you want to.
|
||
|
|
||
|
Options on the table:
|
||
|
|
||
|
- To the mountains!
|
||
|
- To the moon!
|
||
|
- Something else!
|
||
|
|
||
|
[www](https://framalistes.org/sympa/arc/tildepals/2022-11/msg00103.html)
|
||
|
|
||
|
|