quest/src/epistolary/00039.md

---
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)