quest/src/epistolary/00065.md

title	created	updated	public	syndicated
00065	Tue, 21 Feb 2023 14:02:22 -0700	Tue, 21 Feb 2023 14:02:22 -0700	yes	yes

00065

Marvelo fetched a fluffy blanket from the piles of blankets and pillows in the ritual room where the dreamers continue to sleep. He has wrapped up the child and is drying them off. The sound of rain continues to drum incessantly outside.

"Poor thing, you're chilled to the bone. Don't worry, Uncle Marv will take care of you. There we go. Fix you right up!"

The child is still and silent. It has not made a noise this whole time. Nor has it acted on its own to actually do anything besides stare up at Marvelo with wide, dark eyes.

"How did you end up outside by yourself in the rain, hmm? No? That's okay. What about your name? Have you got a name?"

"Rind," says a voice behind Marvelo. At the sound of its name, the child's eyes flick over Marvelo's shoulder. The mercenary starts to spin around even as the blanket writhes in his hands, wrapping itself around his wrists and binding them tightly together.

"Hungh!" he cries out wordlessly and tucks into a roll, turning to face his assailant and---he hopes---dodging any potential attack from behind. And also putting some distance between himself and the child to get it out of harms way.

Marvelo tries to push up to his knees as cords of rope snake their way out of the shadows and coil around his knees and elbows. He struggles to pull free of them. A thicker rope wraps around his waist, and another squeezes around his chest and back. The ropes contract and pull Marvelo into a ball. He groans and falls to his side. He looks up into the eyes of a man wearing a bright red sash.

The child has tottled over to the man and reaches its arms up. The man scoops the child up and holds it in the crook of one arm. The child puts its arms around the man's neck and looks down at Marvelo while resting its cheek on the man's chest.

"His name is Rind," the man smiles.

Feeling bedraggled yet dry despite having been submerged under water, Inky lays on the beach, staring up at the sky before sitting up and looking around the landscape. They are now attired in a hooded azure blue vest over red shirt and shorts, and blue shoes over mismatched knee-high stockings. Their auburn hair is tied back with the drawstrings from an attached small pouch. A plush toy resembling a certain floofy duck peeks out from the hood.

They sense a soft weight land on one shoulder, and smile as Fuko nips at their ear, no doubt partly in reproach for wandering off again without her, and maybe partly meant to be reassuring. This is followed several moments later by a low hiss and a series of light taps next to Inky's ear with her beak. Inky murmurs, "Is that so … we should call it a wrap soon. Master Alex would probably be happy having Big Bother to himself anyway, to grill as he likes."

After a very long minute, Inky sighs and taking out a piece of paper and pencil from their suitcase, scribbles a "pome":

Island tower of towers
Nowhere everywhere the sea
Keep your apples and flowers
Your suitor has come for thee

They roll up the paper and tuck it into a small and clear glass bottle with a cork stopper. Murmuring the sysorcerer's name to the bottle, they lower it into the water and watch as the bottle drifts into the distance.

Walking along the shoreline and stopping a short distance from the lone figure, Inky says casually, "Good day, fellow thing-finder."

The figure turns in your direction and lowers their hood revealing a long, hooked, black beak and a face covered in black feathers. Beady black eyes regard you without blinking.

The feathers around its throat bristle when it speaks like a thick bristling beard.

"Greetings, Dreamer, and welcome to Ephemeris, the Heart of the Dreaming. What brings you to the Throne of Konsu?"

Well Kasutva, I may as well trust you. I imagine if you meant me harm there are more direct and interesting ways to harm me than to misguide me. Give me a moment to collect myself, I've never been much for swimming you see, learned late and was always deathly afraid as a child. Dreadful stuff really.

Alex steps away briefly to the edge of the pier and looks into the Azure blue ocean, a swirl of unending blue depth. Still not my thing, Alex mutters to himself. As he steels himself he notices a bottle adrift, nearing the pier. As it comes closer, he plucks it from the water, decorks it and inspects the note inside.

"What does it say" the little Kasutva inquires.

"Oh nothing, just someone trying to get in contact about our floating pirateships extended warranty" Alex replies bruskly. This definitely must have come from Inky Alex thinks to himself. They must have found the way.

"Look Kasutva, this has been great fun, but I really think I ought to be going, not really sure that a sea of anyones dreams is my sort of thing and all that. And I seem ot have done not but create a mess of things" Alex says as he gestures to the wreckage of the Mech. Alex gestures in the air before him, a small split keyboard appears in front of him and he types out a few short commands.

cat > /home/inky/messages/urgent <<EOF
Got your message
In a bit of a bind, wrapped up with some weird mushroom guy who wants to go for a swim.
Not sure how to handle it, but I might have to dip back to the real world and let you finish here.
I've made a write mess of things, but I trust you can finish this.

Oh, see attached, if you get into a pinch just use this spell, it'll get you what you need.

grep -A4 AID ~/messages/urgent | sed 's/AID//' | sh

AID
4b1af3fcf4ce005ef86d83c45713ba1a548b4e79da09a6d44632cdb6c5917489
d7d500fa37b986d931b70e114b4e67375b10b373aa6649641e7132e8b3dc7d18
ef6efe98ffd070f486c00b4f50d8bf1448414ef9c2fabe0cacd40bebafba8a02
1d0d1bf0188b842d9ae08b9b37b0f266936ef38b8f07e5c90e4a9351bf018898
EOF

"Right!" Alex exclaims startling the little Kasutva accidentally. "Time for me to head back to the real world. Anything you need from me before I head out? Oh also, can I take the ak74u? I think I might need it."

"Back ... back to the waking world?" Mushroom Kasutva stammers. "But..."

It looks out at the sea with a look of longing, confusion, and frustration. "But we were finally going to see Ephemeris," they say almost wistfully.

"You were going to take us to Ephemeris!" they shout at you, suddenly angry.

Mushroom Kasutva screws up its face and roars in rage as it rushes at you and tries to shove you over the edge of the pier into the waters below.

But Kasutva is less than a foot tall and quite ineffective at shoving a human-sized person such as Alex.

Big Kasutva, on the otherhand, is roughly twelve feet tall and quite capable of manhandling a human-sized person.

You look up in time to jerk back out of the way as they swipe at your chest with their face-removing knife. It was all a feint though. As soon as you are slightly off balance from dodging their attack, they reach out with their other hand and give you a shove.

You trip over Mushroom Kasutva, who has positioned themself in just such a way to best tangle up your feet. You stumble backwards a few steps until one of your feet steps out into open air. You twist and and look behind you as Ousia rises up to meet you.

Kasutva clings to your leg as you fall, crying. "We're sorry. We're sorry," they say over and over as you are pulled below the waves.

WHAT DO YOU DO