Donner calls Eternity via flowers. Donner tells him to step away from the phone that he is going to come through. Donner explains the situation with Penlow’s missing part. They head out of the room into the jungle like chancel. Loyality joins up with them looking dapper in his 3-piece suit. Loyality is then filled in on the situation. The group decides to go take a look and see if they are missing any part of their Penlow. They go towards to the top of the pyramid and Donner spots some dried blood that looks like car primer. Inside the area is where they have the heart, kidneys and the liver. Well where they normally have that but now they have the heart only.
Death is going to see where there is a gate to his old buddy knives. He exits the chancel and goes to find a way into Churney. He goes to Colorado using world walker to open gates to get closer. He opens a gate into their chancel to find knives. The path to the chancel is off the road to the Tree. He is looking for Churney or where they would be keep Penlow’s parts. He is ordered to halt and he does only long enough to ask a question. He waits because it is Churney who is on the way. Death cuts to the chase and asks if any Penlow parts are missing. They are going to find Ada she can see if parts are missing.
Crime and Lust are working on ditching the weapons. Crime suggests a Georgia cemetery and they dig up a recently dead obese man who died fornicating with pigs. They empty the casket into the trunk and dump the weapons into the casket and bury it again. After they are done with this they head to Tennessee, and Lust drives them to a southern Bapist revival. They help serve up the obese man as a pig roast. While Lust is talking with the preacher, Crime takes the microphone and begins to work the crowd. Lust anchors the good preacher and teaches him some long past due humility. Crime preaches about the evils of society and that a laundry list of things should be illegal.
June is going to Nephest. She hitches a ride through to Locust and uses the friendly faerie rings to go where she needs to be. There is a strange structured battle going on Clockwork men vs. the gargoyles. She goes through to an eastern block sort of country. There is an old hut and June goes in. She has general instructions on how to find the castle. A Horse is heard in the distance, and there is a rider in red armor on a red horse. June is ignored. After a little while she now sees a white horse and rider approaching. This one stops and talks to her and asks who walks the path. She announces herself as Dame Reality. She is instructed to go to Lavincois castle. She crosses the stream and in front of her is a black horse and knight. He argues that she must best him if she wishes to pass.
Donner bumps up his senses to examine the room. It appears that a woman broke in and stole the item. The perfume she wears is only available at Sacs. On the mythic side this place is unpleasant. There are a lot of unhappy ghosts in the area. Donner decides to question the kidneys. The liver was taken by a woman in white. There is a faint smell of pollution. The spirits say that the woman just appeared. The spirit tells him the woman had blonde hair and a 3-piece suit like Loyality. Donner asks if they can agree to exchange information freely about this issue.
Death is taken to Ada. She is straight out of a western with two guns and a western outfit. Death asks about the intestines of Penlow. Ada is easy on the eyes as she walks away. Ada reminds Death of Lust in her movements and body structures. The room he is taken to has many many bodies including those of imparators and traitors. They do not appear to be missing any of their parts. Death decides to get in touch with the other member of his chancel using flowers. Churney shows him to the garden to pick out the flowers he needs.
Donner lets Death know that Sangreness is in trouble and has lost their liver.
June tells him that he will fight her champion and she leads him to the water. She has him look into the water and makes his reflection come to life to fight him. June just walks the path while he is distracted. June is shown into the castle. Sitting at a low bench is Conspiracy. June lets Conspiracy know what pieces are missing that are known. They have milk and cookies together. Conspiracy says the woman who matches the description sounds like the Regal of Cities. They chat just a bit longer and then June takes her leave. June is getting a prayer and it is Hank and he has a problem. No idea what to wear for the radio interview he has.
Crime and Lust head to talk to Trixie. Crime fills Lust in on the plan to desecrate Eve and he wants her help to try and spin it and make the gift from Crime’s chancel instead of the other house that is trying to frame them. The two begin trying to take down where the body is or the whorehouse. They question someone they find that in involved and an address for the fuel seller. Lust and Crime make their way to the warehouse where the guy is working. Lust pretends to be a Swedish maid with a singing telegram. She sings and then tells him she has a special gift that she cannot give him in front of everyone. Crime strikes a deal with him and offers Lust as bait. Crime and Lust secure the body and are ready to perpetrate.
After this post, this page will ping blogrolling as http://nobilis.average-bear.com
Lust: Where are we going?
Crime: Miami.
Lust: What's in Miami?
Crime: Fun.
Lust: Okay!
Eternity: Is this the thing the naked chick was talking about?
Electricity: How do you know she was naked?
Lust: I was not naked.
HG: ...You were giving off naked vibes, okay?
HG: Amberlam is...
Death: Amberlam ding dong.
DeAnna: Say it again. I missed it for the quotes.
John: Oh, it's not important.
Doyce: He doesn't want that recorded.
Czerny: The head still speaks?
Death: --And spins.
Sausages...speaking tubes...balloon tires...bungee cords...firehose...
--Some of the ideas uses of Pen Lo's intestines.
Death: Is he of any importance?
Czerny: No? I don't think so.
Death: He dies.
Crime, at a barbeque, on serving up the corpse of a man killed by pigs: While she's going her thing, I'll cut off a couple of slices, wrap them up in foil...
Crime: Sodomy's illegal in Southern states, isn't it? So I'll give Lust a hand.
Reality: So to speak.
Preacher, to Lust: You can't tell me what to do, woman.
Lust: The more he wants it, the more I'll know.
Crime: Give him a hair shirt.
Realty: Take me to your master.
White Rider: The White Rider has no--uh--
Reality laughs.
Electricity, on City's perfume: It makes baby Jesus cry.
HG: The thing about ghosts is that they're narcissistic. It's all about them.
??: So they're like cats.
Pen Lo's kidney: ...Like you, a woman in white.
HG: Except you're not wearing white.
Death: And you're not a woman.
HG: Not the most perceptive organs, the kidneys.
Death: You have stupid kidneys.
Death: Where are the intestines of Pen Lo?
HG: She has a knife.
Crime: Is it over six inches in length?
HG: You're not sure what the adjective is, because you've never had to use it before...she's purty.
Death: You know you'd be a lot cuter if you were dead.
Death: I follow her to the intestines of doom.
Electricity, on gathering spirit-essence from Pen Lo's intestines: So where do the drips come out? Have they been inventive?
Czerny: She is always in a bad mood.
Crime: She needs to get laid.
HG: Yet another dangerous chick with a stick up her ass.
Electricity: You could poison him.
Death: I only do that to my own imperator.
Czerny: It'll be just like old times...except now I'm not trying to kill you.
Conspiracy, on her seven year-old anchor: It pleases me to find someone whose conspiracies are simple and related to candy and playtime.
Lust: Where are we going?
Crime: Miami.
Lust: What's in Miami?
Crime: Fun.
Lust: Okay!
Trixie: What?
Crime: Oh, go do some coke.
Trixie: So you want me to blow a judge?
Crime: Hold that thought.
HG: It's like--
Crime: A dormitory of love.
On getting rid of bodies:
Crime: Toss a chunk out the window.
Death: That's littering.
Crime: I'll have Lust work the carrot, and I'll handle the stick.
HG: Which goes in which end?
Reality: You're not afraid to use much, hon.
Lust: A girl's got to get by.
Crime: Oh, he's one of those guys.
Lust: Every guy is one of those guys.
??: Those Swedish maid outfits and counterfeit money go hand in hand.
On staring at a lady's assets:
Reality: They're Swedish translation breasts.
Crime: Not babel fish. Babble-boobies.
Guilt, Fungus, Crime, and Lust
On the beach trying to deal with the Excrucian Weapons. Macy call's out loudly, Mariska responds in kind. Macy informs them that she is looking for a piece of Pen Lo's that has gone missing and tells us that we should see if any of our piece's are missing. None of Amaciel's Chancel's parts are missing, but there are several other Chancel's that they could be missing from.
Back to the matter at hand, Fungus has a plan. Fungus, Lust and Guilt debate what to do. Fungus decides to "tag" them with some magi-spores, and anything else that is excrucian in the Chancel as well. After some hurried planning it is decided that Macy and Baby Doc haul the previously unseen weapons out of the shadow.
Fungus and Guilt
Using Fungus' tagging trick they are able to tack down the load of stuff Crime had witnessed being hauled off of the Beach. On the way there they are picking up any thing that had fallen off of the truck. They are standing in front of a pink aerostream owned by one billy-bob Carlos. Crime had provided a small background on B.B.C.: Child abuse, Neglect, abuse of mother, etc. After Guilt pounds on the door for awhile, B.B.C. steps out. Fungus and Guilt do some divining of B.B.C. after he tells them what had happened, and how he had been recruited. It all started be for the Chancel was complete (maybe around day 88) and B.B.C. was approached by a stranger at his Body Shop (chop shop). He was given money to take everything out of the Cave and put it in the Light House during the night of the storm. The stuff in the truck was just bonus stuff that B.B.C. thought could be worth something.
Punishment
With Cathatel. She is seeking defense against Arnaud's folks. She fills Cathatel in on the suspected frame job. Punishment and Cathatel discuss all of the ramifications of the frame job.
Tomas arrives, and he tries his best to reassure and comfort Punishment. Tomas tells Sian to talk to Meon. Sian is not amused. Sian offers to have Fungus, Crime, and Guilt talk to Tomas to alay his fears. Sian goes up to the Court House tower and bellows for her Familia. Sian and Tomas wait...and Sian is very frustrated to be having to do so with Tomas there. Sian's frustration has hit it's peak and she heads back to the Court Room. The Bailiff just lets her pass this time. Alone with Cathatel she tells him about the cache of Excrucian weapons found in the Light House, and that Crime, Guilt, and Fungus are trying to take care of it.
Jurai knocks on the door just as Sian finish's her talk with Cathatel. Sian takes up a defensive position in front of Cathatel. Jurai tells of his deal with Crime and Guilt, and what the "bribe" is to be. The payment is to be a grand desecration...a piece from a burial plot (Pen lo's body part?) to be found in a brothel. Jurai mentions eve...The Eve...body part is to be used. Jurai is looking for payment for this information, but Sian tells him that Crime and Guilt are responsible for that debt, and not her. Jurai leaves in search of Guilt and Crime.
Fungus and Guilt
Fungus does a lesser Divination to figure out how the crate got in to the Cave in the first place. The Crate was brought to shore via a row boat on the day of the last murder, and was put in the cave to be found later on the night of the ship wreck.
Guilt gets B.B.C. to load all of the Excrucian stuff into the car and trunk. Fungus, feeling nice, but not too nice remove's 99% of B.B.C.'s jock itch so that she can keep an eye on him. Guilt tells B.B.C. that she will talk to Crime and Alejandro for him. As soon as Guilt and Fungus are on their way, they hear Sian calling for them.
Back at the Court House
Guilt and Fungus inform Cathatel and Tomas that Crime and Lust are on vital inter-familia business, and not in the Chancel. Tomas is disappointed by this news, but does not dwell on it. Fungus says that it will send someone to Storyville to try and track crime down and bring him back. Fungus tells Tomas that the weapon found in the Light house came from the Crate and that it was a frame job. Fungus informs Tomas about almost everything involved in the plot. Tomas wishes to speak with Billy Bob Carlos about the Cave, the Crate and the Light house. Guilt says that she will go and find Christopher and have him bring B.B.C. to the court house.
When she finds Christopher, Mariska informs him that B.B.C. should be made to recollect the events as "Honestly" as possible. Christopher drives off in search of B.B.C..
While Guilt is gone, Fungus does a Wonderful job of BS'ing Tomas. Fungus inform Tomas that it was not able to find out how the Row boat got here. Tomas recognizes the spear when it is presented. It is from a case one hundred years ago, and that Pen Lo's Chancel had captured it. The storm it turns out was a Magical, not a Miracle creation.
Tomas takes the spear and asks Sian about the person carried the spear out of the Light House. Sian tells him that it was "Taken Care" of. All is well with the Universe as Tomas leaves.
Fungus makes sure that none of the little bits o' Excrucian stuff wonders off in the surf, and covers it in a thick carpet of fungus. When Guilt comes back, Sian, Kim and Mariska discuss Pen Lo, Macy, Storyville, Eve and how it all ties together. Sian and Mariska decide that Guilt and crime would be the best suited to seek out the information on Eve.
Been cruisin' through Georgia in a stolen Buick with a twisted white girl (Lust) and an exhumed stiff in the trunk and back seat when she says "We have to stop in this next town for a bit. I have something I have to do". It's cool. I owe her for helping me stash the Excrucian weapons last night. We dug up the fresh grave of some fat slob who died in the storm a while back, put the weapons in the coffin and reburied them all slick like. Of course that left Jumbo to deal with, so I cut him into manageable pieces and loaded the Buick. He ain't stinking too bad yet, but it's hot today and the AC is not workin' too good.
Turns out Lust wants to grab herself a new anchor, some preacher guy holding a revival in Podunk Georgia. I dunno if she had a fling with him or what, but it should present the opportunity to advance my estate a bit while I wait.
We stopped, she slipped into the back of the revival and did her thing. I figured she would be busy a while, so I figured I would get rid of the hunk of Jumbo that was in the back seat. I swiped a carving knife that was laid out for the picnic and proceeded to carve a few Jumbo-steaks for the BBQ. That got rid of the pesky hunk, and getting the fine folks to commit a bit of cannibalism was just a bonus in my book.
When I was done, I swapped clothes and introduced myself to the organizer as a guest speaker, the Reverend Jessie Washington from Stillwater OK. A little charm and I was soon preachin' from the pulpit. Now normally you might think I would be up there urging the congregation on to sleep with each other's wives, steal from their neighbors and whatnot. I figured they were going to do that anyway, so I would rather egg them on to support all sorts of draconian laws to stop the sinning hereabouts. It is my firm belief that the more laws there are, the riper the ground for Crime to take root. I layed it on thick and they just lapped it up. When I was done, I finished the sermon with a "now eat hearty y'all! Barbecue is out back!" and slipped away to await Lust.
She showed up pretty quick and soon I was getting contacted by the Chancel. Seems the details were now known about the bribe being offered to Desecration and I was keen on boosting the credit. Lust was game, so I let her drive us back to Florida. It seems our own great ancestor Eve (from the Bible of course) had been dug up and was going to be planted with incriminating evidence at a whore house fire. She was to be buried as a Jane Doe prostitute as an act of desecration.
I figured out what locals were going to be in on the deal and with the help of lust managed to suborn the deal. Now we have Eve in the back of the truck with a shitload of accellerant and a whorehouse just up the road. If I can just take credit for this whole deal, I will have stolen the bribe, offered it on behalf of my boss-man Cathetel and generally advanced the cause of Crime. How can I complain? Arson, theft, murder, falsifying official documents, bribery, conspiracy, crossing state lines in the commision of a felony, counterfeiting, plus the prior graverobbing, cannibalism, and speeding all made me feel like I was accomplishing something.
I'll let you know how all this turns out. I'm getting a major chubby just thinking about it (Lust might have something to do with that too).
Hard to believe, but Death is even more annoying now that he's more human. Doesn't help that Amaciel is incapable of putting the hammer down on him.
June and I are going to have to work hard and in tandem if we want to keep Storeyville livable. Lust and Death have really bad ideas.
Orochi: I'm dead sure we got screwed in that bargain.
Missing Pen Lo parts: At least they weren't stolen from us.
New Lust vs. Old Lust: Macy is certainly easier on the eyes but... Both Heavenly and Hellish types are increasingly repellant to me. Unnatural. Twisted.
We need Amaciel healed.
We decided to go through Bossou’s boss to get to him. That would be Damballah, a big snake god. Damballah liked white things as sacrifices. Lightning was part of his schtick – perfect.
LaFleur insisted we repopulate the Chancel since we were down about 30,000 people. Death insisted that more people were an unnecessary evil. Lust had unsavory ideas of what kind of people to bring in. June and I looked at each other for help. We all agreed to disagree – each of us will pick 7500 to bring in. Joy.
We trucked off to our summoning area (I flew, what with the pigs and all), a hummock in the swamps, with a gang of Voodooistas who actually knew what they were doing. Midnight. Orgy, led by Lust. Lightning sacrifices via me.
Orochi showed up. Lust and I hadn’t seen him before but June and Death knew Him. He looked at Death, “I know you. You’re different.” Damballah is one of His guises, whatever that means. He asked why we’d summoned Him. I clarified – we’d invited Damballah (pays to be polite). He agreed to help with Bossou in return for a service. We are to retrieve something from Charengast Castle. Orochi had promised to not return there for a thousand years. The Castle would oppose us. It was a little late to change our minds.
We summoned Bossou, who turns out to be a large, unpleasant fellow with three horns and a low IQ. Orochi leaned on him – there was a lot of boastful bellowing -- until he agreed to serve us for a time. We took him through New Orleans disguised as a parade float.
We bound him at the center of our pavilion with paper chains that turned more than real. Amaciel spoke through Marie LaFleur. Bossou will rise to the defense of the Chancel, be given a pig per month, be released once per year (his 'holiday') and released permanently if he hears the creator's name 13 times in a moon's cycle.
LaFleur informed us that Pen Lo’s head was demanding attention. Death went to see what it wanted and I tagged along. Pen Lo claimed that part of him had been stolen, elsewhere. This was bad because if it were harmed in certain ways it would harm all those who’d fed upon Pen Lo’s essence. All of the essence could be drawn away at once… The telling exhausted the Head.
Macy got only partially though her long, post-orgy in the mud bath when I zapped in an told her about the problem with Pen Lo’s parts. She flower-talked to Lost Things and asked him to check on their Pen Lo part.
Meanwhile, June met with a VIP visitor. The Camorra had sent us a liaison, as they did to all Inquisitor Chancels. He introduced himself as Walter, a human-looking fellow in 1900-ish clothing and over-fullsome manner. June took an instant dislike to him. She couldn’t convince him we didn’t need him. Lord Entropy had sent him so we couldn’t just send him away. June told him to stay in one of LaFleur’s outbuildings. She doesn’t like LaFleur either.
We set out to consult with the other holders of Pen Lo’s parts.
Death went to Abrolam.
I went to Sanguinas via phone.
June held the fort in the Chancel. [ed.: not real sure if this is right]
Macy went to Noctis where she found troops massing and another Camorra rep, a man named Stephen Jurai who was even nastier than our liaison. The Nobles were unavailable as they were being tried for treason. Michelle Tomas, the Power of Justice, had accused them of possessing banned items. Macy went to check on their Pen Lo part herself.
Scene 1, between Punishment, Justice, and Cathetel
[Within the Imperator's Court]
"It would be best if all were gathered."
"You wish me to contact the others?"
"Yes. I have the Ritual Defense against Arnaud's forces --"
"The Ritual must be placed on hold, until the truth is discovered, Lord. After all, you are not qualified to lead armies while charges such as these are outstanding."
"Since we know he is being framed by someone, to prevent Milord from defending himself, perhaps against the very party that has sought to so false accuse him, is hardly just, Justice."
A smile. "I am here to judge. My job is to investigate regarding the conflict between Cathetel and Arnaud."
"And you will therefore, of course, Justice, assure that Arnaud does not take advantage of your investigation."
"If you will assure that your brethren will be here when I return, then I will seek all legal means to restrain Arnaud." The smile again, baiting. "You could request intervention directly of Meon, you know. He -- speaks very highly of you."
A frown. "Milord, do you wish to contact them, or shall I?"
"I will refrain from exercising any untoward power over my Realm. You may summon them."
Scene 2, between Punishment and Justice
[Upon the building's roof]
A cry to the winds. "My brethren, our Imperator summons us to the courthouse." Consideration, then a kick at a ventilation pipe, aborted.
Unexpected appearing. "That was very subtle."
"When legally blocked from overt action, Justice, subtlety is all that is possible."
"Ah -- yes. When will they be here?"
"As soon as they can be, Justice."
"I will be waiting. I'll assume you, too, will be there, since you seem to have so much to say."
A polite smile. "If it is Milord's wish, then certainly I'll accede to his desires, Justice.
"You have placed guards on the Excrucian ship, of course, to prevent any further ... unfortunate stumblings-upon?"
"I really could not say. I have been busy reporting to Milord -- and to you, as well, Justice."
"I will leave you to it, then." Departure.
A kick sends the vent pipe sailing far into the evernight sky, to land somewhere in the ocean.
Scene 3, between Punishment, Cathetel, and the Cammora Jurai
[Justice has gone to Arnaud. Punishment has completed her report on the Excrucian weapons.]
A sound from the door. "Hello? Oh, I don't mean to intrude --"
"And that, Milord, is the truth." Turns. "Ah. Jurai." A small step, interposing between Jurai and Cathetel.
"Yes, Lord Cathetel, and, of course, the fair Sian. Heh. I had the honor of speaking with Mariska and Mr. Devereaux, and I have news for them. Would you know where they are? Or would you like to hear about it?
A glance at the Imperator. "You may tell us."
"Heh. Yes. Well, you already know that Arnaud's chancel has sent some very fine gifts to our Lord Entropy. Well, they're also trying to influence Meon, Desecration's Regal. We've learned what the bribe is." Pauses, waits. "It is something of a time-sensitive nature." Pauses, waits.
A sigh. "Tell us, then."
"Yes. Well, they are making a fine gift to Desecration's Estate. A grand desecration, as it were, in the middle of Miami. A fabulous artifact from a burial site elsewhere. Very old. Very significant." Eyebrows waggle.
Silence.
"Well, they plan to do something to desecrate it, involving a house of prostitution there." Pause. "Heh. Yes, well, it's Eve."
Raised eyebrows. "Eve -- as in, 'Adam and ...'?"
"The very one. Heh. She's to be found, dead, burned beyond recognition in a whorehouse, the unfortunate victim of arson. She'll be labeled a 'Jane Doe' by the authorities. Truly, a fine desecration. Meon will love it." Pause, awaiting reaction. "This information, I'll note, was not easy to obtain. Very costly."
Coldly. "You will have to arrange with Guilt for repayment."
"Of course. Of course. Heh. I could, you know, find out more. Arrange for further 'intel' --" Gestures quotation marks. "-- on the plan. Or perhaps find a way to redirect the sacrifice in ... your favor? Heh. Of course, there would be a price, but that can easily be -- negotiated."
"Again, you would need to talk with Guilt or Crime about that. Your bargain is with them."
"Of course. Of course. Well, I'll just leave the two of you to your tete-a-tete." A smile, a raised and suggestive eyebrow.
The door closes. A look over at Cathetel.
"They are a necessary evil."
A bow. "You are at least half right, Milord."
"It is better to keep one's friends close, and one's enemies closer. As I am sure you are well aware. Go now. Do what needs doing. The others will gather here soon."
A bow, and departure.
Monologue I
Eve. Mother of humanity. Second-born of us all.
But betrayer of all humanity as well. Weak-minded dupe of Satan, violator of God's command, temptress and betrayer of Adam. She who first sinned.
An irony, perhaps, given our Chancel. Hers was the first Crime of humanity, leading to its first Guilt, and thus its first Punishment.
I'm uncertain how Fungus fits in. Perhaps the Garden. And Cathetel is a serpent, though -- well, obviously not that serpent.
But for Eve I hold no pity, no compassion, no sense of outrage. That she has not turned to dust, as all mortals must, means little to me. That her body would be desecrated means even less. None could desecrate it more than she did herself. Still, I suppose some would consider it a desecration, a way to influence foul Meon. I'll have to consider this.
And it's not as though it's the Blessed Virgin. That I could not stand by for, and such a desecration would be -- unthinkable. Of course, tradition has it she was taken directly up to Heaven at the end of her days.
Hrm. Best not to dwell overmuch on this, lest the conflict between the faith of my mortal life and what I see and hear and touch about me now becomes too great. I must seek out what my course today is, not speculate idly on matters I cannot control or understand. That is the better course.
Scene 4, between Punishment, Fungus and Guilt, and, later, Justice.
[In Cathetel's court, as the Imperator looks on. Fungus and Guilt arrive.]
"You've come. Where's Crime?"
"Distracted. It's a body part issue. Lust says that a piece of Pen Lo is missing."
"What?!"
"Not one of our pieces. Nor theirs. Someone else's. Lust has been letting folks know."
"So where is Crime now?"
"With Lust."
"Great. We need to get him back here, as soon as possible. The reason he's away doesn't matter. Tomas expects us all to testify before him when he returns."
"Do we know when he'll get back?"
In the room. "As soon as possible."
Turning to Justice. "I'll send someone to Storyville to see if he's there with Lust."
"Fine, Fungus. I have secured some time with Arnaud's people, a pause if you will, before the conflict must resume."
"I'm sure we'll have this all cleared up quickly, Justice."
"That is my hope as well, Sian. Now, speak to me of the trident. Have you any information of interest regarding it?"
"I know that it came from a crate in a cave on the shore. I know the crate was not from the shipwreck, but was planted there on the last day of the Chancel's creation. I know that a mundane was convinced to plant the weapons in the lighthouse, in exchange for money."
"I will want to speak with him, Fungus." A glance at Punishment. "Is he still alive? And in possession of all his digits?"
"Yes."
"Then send for him." A sigh, a smile. "So, not treason perhaps -- but surely incompetency in defense of a Chancel."
"I note that this took place before the Chancel was created, and at a time when my Imperator was already complaining of interference by others."
A frown at Fungus. "Do you have anything further to add, Sian?"
"Just that I trust that justice will be done. By one agency -- or another."
"The trident itself, from what little I saw of it, appears to be a weapon described in Inquisitorial investigations from several centuries ago. It was captured from the Excrucians then."
"By whom, Justice?"
"Pen Lo's Chancel, of course. Now, other weapons were captured at the time as well --"
"Who inherited the artifacts from Pen Lo, Justice?"
A hard glance at the interruption by Punishment. "We did. And, of course, Avralam. Lord Entropy. Representatives of the Valde Bellum. The Cammorae might have as well -- they were involved in debriefing the mortal inhabitants of the Chancel before it was returned to reality, and in the destruction of the castle. Lord Entropy, or a representative of him, would have been in charge of disposing of the weapons."
Consideration. "Under the circumstances -- well, Lord Meon will be here in the next day or two, and I will continue investigating on his behalf. In the meantime, Cathetel is within his rights to Ritual Defense of his Chancel. The trident will be taken to Chancel Nephys. The investigation will continue. This has been -- most informative."
A glance at Punishment. "One more question, Sian. Your reaction to the individual who was wielding the weapon. You could have just as easily disarmed him."
A blank mask without expression. "I did."
Monologue II
There are times I wish I were more useful.
My service to my Estate is of great value, of course. And I'm fast, powerful, and can strike down our Chancel's foes if given half a chance.
But when it comes to the magicks of this place, I am barely tolerated by the land or its people.
So when it strikes me that a good course of action would be to follow up on Tomas' comment, and seek to protect the Excrucian ship from further intrusions, my options are limited. I can simply swim out there and pick up every piece of wood, flotsam and jetsam, and bring it to shore, and then carve out huge blocks of stone and build a wall about the ship. Or I can (if they will listen to me) order the Coast Guard to plant men around it to protect it. But the latter would be feeble in effect, and the former faintly ridiculous and grossly inefficient.
I mention the problem to Fungus. It shrugs, and entombs ship and fragments alike in its namesake, both anchoring them and shielding them from most harm.
That sort of thing. Useful.
Then it occurs that there is one way I might be useful. One of the planned blows against us, according to that vile little man, is the bribing of Desecration's Regal. Lord Entropy, one would assume, is above such things, but Meon might not be. But pride is certainly one flaw he carries, as do we all.
I knew, in my days, of police who would take bribes. Foul creatures, to trade authority for personal gain, but with such are my days taken up. To give a bribe, though, is a difficult thing, for the one bribed must consider himself in control of the transaction -- not control as in responsibility, but control as in being the one truckled to. If the manipulation is too overt, the expectations in return too blatant, the inference that one can be bought too visible, a bribe becomes an insult. One becomes too obviously a commodity, to be bought or sold. Nobody cares to be a commodity, a sack of flour, a servant. Not, that is, if they hold to the pride of position. Pride that lets one take a bribe, then, is a fragile thing, and can be pierced by light of day or by subtle word.
I am not subtle, but I know of pride. I will go to Meon, then, in that desolate realm of islands, and warn him of how Arnaud seeks to manipulate him -- and, through implication, let him know that such an attempt at manipulation is known by others. Perhaps in that way I can prick his pride, such that the bribe will not be accepted, but shunned, and not redound to Arnaud's advantage, but to his sorrow.
And that, in turn, will be useful indeed.
The laying of cunning plans ...
Margie: "Lust, Crime -- get out of Dade!"
Investigating the local trailer trash ...
Margie: "Does Billy-Bob have any fungal conditions?"
HG: [Laughs uproariously]
Dave: "Of a certainty."
Punishment is discussing matters of import with Cathetel ...
Jurai: [Knocking on door, poking in head] Hello? I don't mean to intrude ...
Punishment: [Raising her voice to Cathetel.] And that, my Lord, is the truth. [Turns.] Ah, Jurai ...
Jurai has once again departed ...
Punishment: [Gives Cathetel a look.]
Cathetel: They are a necessary evil.
Punishment: [Bows.] You are at least half right, my Lord.
Further dark plans are being hatched ...
Punishment: I'm sure we can talk with Jurai about that.
Fungus: No, not Jurai. He makes me molt.
ALANNA METCALF -- Third Chief of Detectives, New Scotland Yard, London.
Description: Female, 38. Ginger-haired and freckled. Deep blue eyes. Usually wears very formal grey suits/skirts. One of the youngest people, and first woman, to have this post. Well-spoken, intelligent, of lower-middle class origin. Liaison with Interpol and other law enforcement agencies that work with NSY.
Met: Alanna was involved in the investigation of the infamous 1997 Shropshire Slasher case, a lengthy serial killing in the Midlands. Alanna broke the case and broke in on the home of the perp, only to find Punishment already there, ready to kill him. Alanna tried to stop her, and failed, but started running across Siân thereafter, as Punishment took an interest in her cases. Eventually, faced with an "untouchable" politician who had killed his wife, child, and in-laws, Alanna found herself willing to have Siân intervene.
Relationship: Over time, they have developed a modus vivendi, and then a relationship of mutual respect, admiration, and even deep friendship and love. Alanna considers Siân everything she could aspire to, in the ideal; Siân considers Alanna a colleague, and even, possibly, a trainee ...
SUSANNE COLLETTE -- President, Int'l Sex Workers Union, Amsterdam.
Description: Female, 52, blond (dyed), a faded beauty. French; worked her way up "through the ranks" as a prostitute in Marseilles. Passionately outspoken as to her cause, the recognition of the legitimacy of the sex trade, and the unionization of its workers. Has contacts internationally in the industry, as well as in political, labor, and human rights organizations.
Met: When over a dozen prostitutes in Berlin were murdered in 1989, and the police seemed indifferent, Susanne prayed to God for just punishment on the killer; the prayer functioned as an invocation of Siân. Susanne swore fealty if Siân solved the crime -- Punishment would have acted, regardless, but took her up on her offer.
Relationship: Siân, though sometimes shocked by Susanne's, ah, forthrightness, still has the gentleman's ethics of his youth regarding females (other than herself and her kin), and a deep hatred for those who prey upon the "most unfortunate of women" in society. Though Susanne, when she catches hints of this, is irked by the patronizing attitude, she also recognizes that Siân is sincere in earnestness to protect her people, and to kill the predators who think whores to be easy targets. She is Susanne's knight and guardian angel; Susanne is Siân's tie to those in whose defense she became ennobled.
1. Wasting time.
I'm reminded of something an old friend of mine used to say, way 'back when: "Today is all you have for the rest of your life." I didn't listen to her then--I sent off my husband to the Great War and waited for him to come back, even though I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be happy about it when he did.
Here I am again, running back and forth on errands passed down for no particular reason whatsoever, when I could be out in the world, doing some good. I haven't seen Hank for ages--I haven't helped a real, human being for a long time now. They never stop needing to be helped.
I know what I should be doing, though, so I suppose I'd better be doing it.
We summoned Dhambala, who turned out to be some Aaron's Serpent that some of the others had met before, the one that had helped us find Amaciel. Of course he had a little job for us to do. We returned to the chancel, and Pen Lo's fool head was whining about part of him being missing and how that could hurt Amaciel. Of course we have to find out where it went. Some d--- fool from the Caamora wanted to sell me something, like his undying loyalty. Oh, please. I haven't been that naive since the twenties.
No time to save children from burning apartment buildings, let alone for a glass of wine under the stars with an old woman who'll tell me the soap operas her children are going through for an hour or two.
I'm a cantankerous old thing, never satisfied.
2. Freak Show
The only thing I've done lately to any pleasure or profit lately has been setting up the freak show in town. It feels like a little spot of home out back, with the trailers and the dogs running around. Dapper Dan the barker man talks big, but underneath it all, he's too used to worrying about money to truly relax and enjoy putting the show together.
I sit and listen to him talk about his dreams. He wants to run a big corporation and dress in a suit every day, with ladies to fetch and carry for him and take messages so he can snub the people he doesn't like. I had to laugh. "If you just want to ignore people, well, honey, you can do that anywhere. Anybody at all can feel justified. You don't need to waste your time to find that kind of satisfaction." Then I told him about my husband and how he treated me for free, but he just rolled his eyes at me.
"It's not just the money, June," he said. "It's the piles and piles and piles and piles of money. And the suits. I could buy me so many Eye-talian suits that I couldn't wear them all if I wore a different one every day of the week. And I could buy me some of that fancy coffee, the kind that you have to brew through the machine with all them brass tubes."
Someday I believe I'll explain to him that I can give him something like that, if that's what he really wants. Right now, though, I watch his face while he's directing people to paint the wooden signboards--"World's Strongest Man!" "Elephant Lady!" "Lovely Lila Bites the Heads off Chickens!!!"--and I see that he's happy right where he is.
He should have it all painted up and ready to begin in a couple of days. I just need to find a whatchamacallit, the steam organ with the mechanical cymbals.
Cally-something.
Two particularly fine and apropos words from Jaffrey Kacirk's Forgotten English:
heavenware: The inabitants of heaven; formed on Old English heofon, [and] waras, people; [1000-1200s] -- James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1901.
anthomaniac: One who is intensively fond of, or "mad about," flowers. -- James Murray's New English Dictionary, 1888.
All right, Donner, what are you up to?
(Note to self: I simply must work this into the story somehow.)Fungus and I were standing around the shipwreck wondering what to do about it when we heard Punishment clambering around and calling down to us about a survivor. I figured I was bound to get wet, so I stripped down nekkid and was about to start climbing up when Punishment lowered down a young white boy from the window. The kid was busted up a bit with what looked like a gimp leg and maybe some busted ribs. He seemed a bit too pretty and I noticed Punishment was licking her lips a bit. I was hoping for a little statutory rape there on her part, but I had to settle for impersonating a doctor and indecent exposure on the beach on my part.
The kid was armed with what seemed to be an illegal Excrucian weapon, though I had a hard time wrapping my mind around it. The best I could do was concentrate on swiping the sheath and belt it was held in and strap it on. I cheered up and fashioned a splint for his leg. Too bad about his ribs.
He was definitely an Excrucian and the whole illegal immigration/weapon aspect made me feel like he might be worth cultivating as an intelligence source on what the Excrucians were up to. Guilt showed up after a while to help keep an eye on the perp, so I assisted Punishment in further exploring the wreck. While Punishment poked around below looking for more survivors (presumably to punish), I , um, gathered evidence in what looked like the Captain's quarters. Being a little unfamiliar with Excrucian artifacts, I felt it wise to just grab everything that was not nailed down. I had to cut up the upholstery of the Buick to make a bag to hold it all, but the take included some strange navigation instruments and the log book.
Punishment re-emerged from the lower section, gave me a dirty look and made sure I brought out all I had found. In the meantime, Fungus was zoning out and had gotten some strange visions of what looked like a deal gone bad. A contract seemed to be involved, so I suggested we check the log book.
Bingo. It held a naughty contract to trade favors for outlawed Excrucian weapons. I checked out the paperwork and delved into the various crimes involved. Treason certainly. More interestingly was conspiracy and forgery. The non Excrucian Fungus saw in her/his/it's vision was impersonating Cathetel and forged his symbol on the contract. After the deal went down, the ship began hauling it's cargo towards our chancel and just plain blew up.
I really wish I could sense my estate directly off these characters. They seem like my kinda folks. Anyway, Punishment decided to report directly to Cathetel while Guilt and I were to haul off the kid to a holding cell for interrogation. We dumped him into the trunk and sped off to the pokey.
When we got there, the night clerk [bigamy, illegal gambling, possession of narcotics] let us in and we dumped the punk into the drunk tank. Guilt and I figured it wasn't secure enough, so she made some changes to hold him better while I watched and learned. We decided he needed softening up a bit before we started with the questioning, so I had the local radio talk show piped in nice and loud. I was a little worried it might be too much and he would off himself (Lord knows I started feeling like punching out myself after listening to 20 minutes of that crap. Guilt knows her stuff). The Excrucian seemed to take it in stride. I began to wonder what a good dose of street acid might do to his system, but the nearest dealer was eight blocks away and busy stealing hubcaps. I didn't want to disturb him on a whim.
Next stop was city hall to meet with Punishment and Cathetel. I delayed just long enough to disable the catalytic converter of the buick, then went careening around town knocking down neighborhood watch signs. It's a lot faster sometimes to just drive on the sidewalks than sit in traffic when you are in a hurry. We made it to city hall in good time. Lots of gargoyles were gathering in the square and looked like they were getting ready for some action. Looked pretty serious.
Guilt and I went inside and got the lowdown. Some fella from the Comorra was there and introduced himself. He let us know that a gift was gonna be presented to our arbitrator (Desecration) from an opposing chancel as a favor to us. This fella just reeked of my estate without actually doing so, if you know what I mean. I thought about offering him a spot on my staff, but decided to wait and see what else he could offer. I think I may have to work out an arrangement with him soon. I would love to steal the gift he mentioned and present it on our behalf. Gonna have to think on that a bit.
Shortly afterwards, Punishment showed up and gave us the skinny. We were supposed to find the cache of weapons and get it under control. No problem, I have experience at that sort of thing. Just about then Fungus got word that one of our enemies was kinda invading the beach in some sort of ritual fight, kinda like one of the old rumbles we used to have when I was a kid. Punishment flew off and Guilt and I swiped another police cruiser to haul ass down to the beach.
I sensed illegal radio transmissions from the beach, so I called up the radio station and had them tune their transmitter to that frequency. By the time we got there, some weird assed mechanoid things were milling around and heading for the lighthouse. Punishment was already there. Guess where the illegal weapons were. Shit, one of them was seen and the rat off to accuse Cathetel as soon as possible. I decided to get down there as fast as possible and do a miracle of Crime to spirit the stash of weapons the hell out of town. Damn I hate getting fingered for shit I didn't do (yet).
"Hello there, little toaster spirit.""HI!"
"I was wondering if I could ask you something."
"I TOAST!"
"Yes, about that... do you remember what happened in here yesterday morning?"
"I TOAST! I TOAST BREAD!"
"... Quite. Were you toasting bread yesterday mor--"
"I TOAST BREAD AND THEN I POP! TOAST! POP!"
-- From Interrogatus Interruptus: Murder Investigation in the Mythic
Or, as ***Dave puts it: "Mythic Realm = Toontown"
It seems that the interaction of Mythic and Prosaic Realities is one aspect of many Nobilis games that people have problems with; it's harder to consistently visualize and every HG has their own take on how the Mythic works, it's harder to know by what rules it operates.
I've been thinking about the Mythic and the way that it is often taken as sort of a running punchline and how that's not really what I'm aiming for most of the time. (Most of the time. :) I'd love to hear some more about this.
The 'toontown' perception that I mentioned above comes, I think, from me presenting the Mythic in a fairly specific way. I've gone the route of portraying spirits as being relatively 'pure' things -- pure in a Taoist sense -- they are purely themselves, not unlike a young child, and as such they come off as somewhat childlike in their intensity of self-ness. (In a sense, they are like the little forest spirits seen in Princess Mononoke - curious about things, but fairly simple and very straightforward.)
For instance, I was recently describing an excrucian ship that had crashed on the shores of Locus Noctis. In the mythic, residual energy rolled off the ship like dry ice smoke. The local spirits were all very curious about the alien thing; small wave- and water-spirits splashed against the hull, scrabbling to get higher up on the ship before eventually losing their grip and sliding back down (like, I suppose, an energetic pre-schooler trying to climb a slide from the bottom up).
Now personally, I was pretty proud of that visualization -- I thought it captured the 'child-like sense of curiosity/wonder of a pure wave-spirit' that I was going for. Spirits aren't always useful, that's true, anymore than a toddler is always useful... but that doesn't mean they never are -- you just have to know how to deal with them.
Now, I've also run more sophisticated spirits (perhaps 1 in 10 spirits might be able to have a reasonably useful conversation with a PC) -- naturally, these are spirits of more complex things -- for instance, the Spirit of a legal contract might be quite well-spoken and erudite, at least as far as the subject matter of the contract goes.
Still, for every talkative phone-spirit, there's a toaster spirit. :)
There is no honeymoon for us in the new chancel. Some of the family is at the shipwreck with me. It is beautiful, but alien and strange, and that is coming from someone alien and strange. The text that covers the ship is flowing like angelic, but again alien and strange.
Speaking of strange, why is Crime stripping naked? He is probably hoping some water sprite will come and feel him up. Does he even know what a water spirit is? I wonder again how adding Crime to the family will change us. How will it change Cathetel?
The spirits dance around us as always, but there is a hollowness where the ship is. A smoke or steam rolls of it like dry ice. The fog dissipates as if gets farther from the ship, and doesn’t appear to have an effect on the water. The ship itself is dead. It does not have a spirit, but it is giving off energy. We aren’t the only ones looking at the ship. The local spirits are very interested in it. They are puzzled and confused. The water sprites are grabbing at the deck as they rise out of the water. Others spirits are looking at the fog.
I only half-see the Excrucian boy that Punishment has recovered. My eyes move off him and back to the ship and the mystery of its presence. I look deep into the vessel, looking for mold. There is something there, an old mold. Excrucian mold. It is hard to recognize it as fungus. It is a different paradigm, strange and alien like the text and the boy. But it is fungus, because someone has named it such, and I can use it to see the ship’s past.
I see the strange ship docked in an ocean of stars, somewhere on the world tree, near Earth. The vision shows, four or five beautiful creature including the boy are on the deck of the ship speaking with a robed man with a hood. There is some sort of paper product rolled out on a table. The two parties are making a deal. The paper is signed and marked. The hooded figure indicates the Earth and then brings up a chest. The leader opens it and something shining within causes the stars stop. They are please. The young survivor takes it down below deck past the migos. The parties depart and the ship heels about and Earth comes into its sights. Some time later, the chest explodes and tears the ship in half. The parts plummet to Earth and land near the reef in the new chancel. This can not be an accident.
When I tell the others, it does not take them long to find the paper. The contract is in excrucian and angelic. The content is incriminating, with Cathetel’s symbol and a deal for services rendered in exchange for Excrucian weapons.
Crime helps to determine that it is a forgery designed to incriminate Cathetel. The fundamental motives for the crime are hidden. They can not be scryed, thus someone divine must have been involved in the forgery.
Punishment leaves to tell Cathetel and the others leave to question the boy. We really need to give him a name.
I stay on the beach and look at all the pieces of the Excrucian vessel. Given the crime and the intent to frame Cathetel once again, I want to make sure that I know where all the alien material is. A major divination finds all the chucks and then a lesser creation tags it with marker fungus, so I can find them later.
Big chunks of the ship are hither and yon, including the back of the pick-up, a spot down the beach, a cave, the reef, on the jetty near the lighthouse. The cave is most noteworthy, because there is an alien chest there.
Time Slows -
I feel one of the family wanting to talk to me. It will be really nice when we have the communication technology working. In the mean time I send a chupacabra to find Punishment to have her come here. I move quickly to the cave. I want to make sure that no one moves the chest.
I discover that the chest is empty about the same time that I hear motorized contraptions rolling up the beach.
A voice in my head, Cathetel, commands, “Don’t kill them, yet.”
A guard comes out of the lighthouse, down the quay from the cave. He is holding a very strong Excrucian weapon in his hand and is yelling at his partner. Punishment stuns him and takes his hand off. The trident falls to the ground.
I create bloom of spores around lighthouse to obscure the scene, and then plug the cave mouth. Just before all hell breaks loose, I divine that the two hicks in the pick-up truck were the ones planting the weapons. Good thing I know where that truck is. I wonder who the “he” is that gave them the orders.
Guilt goes to Storyville, Locus Amaciel, to clean out her desk and abuse Christopher. Marie Laveau appears just as Guilt is planning to leave. They chat. She mentions that Death is still unconscious, in a black plastic chrysalis. She has plans for him. Marie changes the subject to Locus Noctis’s warden. “It must be difficult having a warden who is disagreeable.” Guilt: “You, of course, would never know.”
Upon returning to Dade. Christopher starts complaining about the heat and humidity. “So, where am I going to be chained up here?” Guilt replies, “We have a nice little office for you down in South Beach.” The new monorail brings them to beachfront. Christopher immediately becomes suspicious. The area looks too nice, a little run down, but the view is great.
The DA Alejandro de la Cruz is waiting for Guilt. Smoking and waiting. “So, Alejandro, what can I do for you?” Alejandro explains “The rest are on the beach. About 2 miles down. I can take care of settling him in.” Guilt says her thanks and remands Christopher, “Enjoy the view, but don’t become wedded to it.”
Siân goes to investigate the pleas for help that she felt/heard. It is around at the back of the ship. What would normally be high windows are almost level with the water. She looks into the darkened room. Her sharp eyes adjust effortlessly to the gloom. It is the captain’s quarters. Anything that was not nailed down has been tossed around. The faint noise is coming from the far corner, out of sight of the windows.
Every piece of wood that came from the ship is covered with Excrucian script, not unlike the hieroglyphics on the sarcophagi at the British Museum. The ship is a beautiful work of art. Everything looks like it should be in an art museum.
The car motors up noisily.
Punishment enters the captain’s room. There is a young man lying in the corner, holding his chest. She can smell blood, Spiritus Dei. He appears to have a broken leg and several broken ribs. He occasionally groans, when he breathes. He is a supernatural being of like caliber. Siân is distracted by his beauty.
Crime and Fungus approach the ship. Not one to pass up a crime, Crime strips naked just in case he needs to get wet. Fungus looks at the scene in the mythic trying to determine the effect that the ship was creating. There is an almost dry ice effect, coming off of the ship. The ship itself does not have a spirit, but it is giving off energy. The local spirits are very interested in it. They are puzzled and confused. The water sprites are grabbing at the deck as they rise out of the water. Others spirits are looking at the fog. The fog does not appear to have an effect on the water.
Punishment approaches the young man and says “Look, I’m going to have to move you out of the ship. It’s not safe.” He is very pretty. Excruciatingly beautiful. Punishment spends a moment looking for a flaw. She gently lifts him and flies out of the ship.
Crime: “What do you have there?” Punishment: “A survivor.” Crime “Bring him down here.” Punishment lands, gingerly. Crime helps to make a splint for the leg. He actually does a good job. Fungus deduces that he is probably an Excrucian. He is too beautiful. He creeps them out a bit, just as the ship does. The boy is wearing a minimalist shimmery fashion. Almost a Lycra body suit. There are no signs of rank.
Crime checks him out for injuries. Fractures, etc., blow to the head (eyes off – oh, wait, they look like falling stars. Is that normal?). He is armed with a longish knife on his waist. “Over six inches in length?” “That would be a crime.” Attention keeps trying to slide away from it. He concentrates on the sheath and is able to remove it. Crime puts the sheath on. He soon forgets that he is wearing it.
Fungus checks the boat for mold. Old mold. Excrucian mold. It takes a while to recognize it as fungus. But it is as if it were a different paradigm. It is not like any of the fungus he has seen or felt on the world tree. These are fungi, because other sentient species recognize these as fungi.
Alejandro’s car and driver arrives at the shipwreck with Guilt. She causes the driver to drive up onto the sand to where the others are gathered.
Punishment looks for other survivors. All she finds are the bodies of the same pale, hairy, ape-like deck-hands migos. There are not any bodies that look like officers. The boy does not look like he belongs to the crew or command.
Fungus links to the ship fungi and uses them to divine the actions on the ship prior to being shipwrecked.
Guilt approaches Crime, Fungus, and the survivor.
Punishment moves down to the second tier. These appear to be crew quarters. There are no cannons here, but that section of the ship is missing. The lowest level is flooded with sea water. It probably was storage. This ship was not designed to be solely water-born. The damage to the ship does not match with a damage expected for hitting the coral reef. It would appear that part of the ship was already missing when the ship hit the reef. Most likely it was broken in two.
Guilt eyes Crime’s nakedness and comments, “It is so nice to see people who are so comfortable with their inadequacies.” Crime just assumes that she is talking to the survivor. Guilt uses her connection with the realm to divine the shipwreck and try to determine is there are any other parts of the ship in the realm. There are bits of jetsam around the shipwreck. There is a lot of stuff washed up all along the shore, some at the high tide line, others clumped down the beach.
Crime: “Can you watch pretty boy here?” “Sure, what is the story?” “He is a survivor. Busted up a bit. Broken leg, wrist, and ribs.” “Where is Punishment?” “The bitch is up on the ship (Should we explain to him now that with an aspect 5, she can here you?)
Fungus witnesses the ship docked in an ocean of stars. Somewhere on the tree, near Earth. Four or five beauties are on the deck of the ship, speaking with a hooded individual. There is some sort of paper, scroll, or velum rolled out on a table. They are making a deal. Signing/marking the scroll. The hooded figure indicates The Earth and then brings up a chest. A pretty boy opens it and it shines. The stars stop briefly. They are pleased. The leader hands it to the young survivor. He takes it down below deck past the migos. The cloaked figure leaves. The ship heels about and Earth comes into its sights.
Some period of time later, an enormous eruption tears the ship in half. The parts plummet to Earth & Dade. From the looks of it, the chest was the source of the explosion.
Crime tosses the captain’s quarters. Punishment returns to the captain’s quarters and confronts him. Crime has pulled a spyglass, some brass fittings, and a logbook with some loss pages inserted in the back. Crime points to the book and the other things he has collected and calls them evidence. Punishment can not find fault in this.
Crime and Punishment return. Fungus tells them what she has divined. They look at the loose pages and find the contract. The contract is in excretion and angelic. The symbol on the angelic side is Cathetel’s. The contract states that the services rendered by the angelic side will be exchanged for Excrucian weapons. Punishment looks at the spirit of the contract; it is guiltless. There was a crime. The spirit of the contract was criminal in intent and also at other levels. Crime does a simple divination on the spirit of the contract. The obvious crime at the highest level was contact between this side and the Excrucians. There is also treachery, probably from the destruction of the ship. Crime also determines that it is a forgery to implicate Cathetel and the contract was intended to be found. The fundamental motives for the crime are hidden. They can not be scryed, thus someone divine must have been involved in the forgery.
There are no Punishment clauses in the contract.
Punishment opines someone needs to tell Cathetel. She elects herself and heads out.
“Sevenfold law means we can’t just kill the survivor. But we can take him into custody.” Crime dumps him into the trunk. Guilt and Crime return to town with the survivor. Fungus stays behind to search the debris.
Punishment goes back to the court house. She sees the chupacabra lining up in the courtyard. They appear to be forming squads. She continues on into see Cathetel. Outside of the courtyard there is a guard and a man dressed in ornate robes. The guard says “He’s in conference and asked not to be disturbed.” “Ordinarily, I would wait, but I’ve had a bad day and he needs to hear what I have to say.” “Is this the part where I get out of the way?” “Yes” “He’s not going to be mad at me? Wait, I think I here him coming.” Punishment opens the door as Tomas reaches for the handle. “Thank you. How is the boat?” “In poor shape,” Punishment replies over her shoulder.
Punishment describes the forged contract that they found on the boat. Cathetel asks if the weapons have been found. Punishment did not see any weapon. Cathetel asks Punishment not to discuss these things with Tomas or Lord Arnaud.
Punishment then brings up the subject of Crime. Cathetel explains that Crime is a gift or need filled for our new responsibilities. “His domain will help mirror yours to determine not only the need for punishment, but also the crime itself. It is natural that one of your estate is repulsed by one of his. It would be best if you can separate the response of yourself from the response of your estate.” Punishment tries to put the game face and suck it up. Cathetel also reminds Punishment of the Chamomile Law – adversity builds strength. “By being exposed to the strongest of crime than you will be more prepared for when you come across it in our work.”
Cathetel asks Punishment to find the weapons. He is afraid that Lord Arnaud might attack soon. It would probably not be a good thing to have them loose in the realm when that happens.
As she is exiting, a man stops her and says “I am Jurai, the new contact with the Cammorae. I look forward to meeting all of the family. I have been provided rooms. Please let me know if I can be of any service to you.
Guilt does a major preservation reinforces the drunk tank cell at the jail to hold the Excrucian.
Fungus scrys around the flotsam and jetsam to see if they overlooked anything. A major divination finds all the chucks and then a lesser creation tags it with marker fungus, so she can find them later.
Big chunks of ship hither and yaw, including the back of the pick-up, a spot down the beach, a cave, the reef, on the jetty near the lighthouse. The cave is most noteworthy, because there is an alien chest there.
Justice goes down to milk Pen Lo and finds him tumescent. She continues the ritual and returns to the courtyard.
Crime and Guilt try and talk to the survivor. They try to break his will be making him listen to Guilt’s radio program, “The Best of the Worst.” They then drive to meet Siân. Crime runs over the neighborhood watch signs along the way. Before they find Siân, Jurai finds them. “Hello, I am Jurai of the Cammorae. Could we talk?” He brings them out to the picnic table. “I understand that you have a bit of difficulty with Lord Arnaud. I have heard from another Cammora, that two gifts have been sent from Lord Arnaud to influence the decision. Lord Tomas is investigating here but Desecration's Regal will be passing the final judgment in Miami.” The first gift was spices sent to Lord Entropy. The second gift will be for Desecration's Regal, a special gift for him as a “how to you do” when he arrives in Miami. Crime arranges for Jurai to determine the nature of the gift so that they can appropriate it instead.
Guilt - “Are you well, Siân?”
Punishment – “It has been a bad day. How is our captive?”
Guilt – “He is in a well reinforced drunk tank at the sheriff’s”
Punishment – “Cathetel has asked us to find any Excrucian weapons that might have come with the shipwreck.” Punishment finally re-notices the dagger at Crime’s side and realizes that it was on the survivor. “Like that one at your side. So we will need to round that one up with the others.” Crime “OK, I’ll hold onto it until them.”
They discuss the troops of chupacabra forming in the streets. There are two types, airborne and jumping. They may be needed for defense.
Crime shares the information from Jurai and the plot. Crime decides that they should wrap Fungus into the conversation. He takes off his shoe and call for Fungus.
On the beach, Fungus feels one of his family wanting to talk to him. There are several chupacabra and coast guards around the lighthouse. He calls a chupacabra over and sends it to Punishment to have her come here. She then makes sure that none of the steals the chest.
The guardsman’s radio squawks. Sir, Ma’am, there are people, headed down the beach. The attack has begun.
Punishment divines a Coast Guardsman entering a room with many shiny things ordered within. She senses that it is near the beach. She calls out to Crime and Guilt and then heads towards the beach.
Motorized contraptions are rolling up the beach.
Tomas watches from the cliff top.
A voice in all of their heads, Cathetel: “Don’t kill them yet.”
Crime does a minor divination to determine if they are broadcasting without a license. They are, so a crime is being committed. Crime arranges for the signal to be jammed.
Punishment sees a guard coming out from the lighthouse with an Excrucian weapon in his hand. He begins to yell at his partner. Punishment stuns him and takes his hand off. The trident falls to the ground.
Fungus causes a spore bloom around lighthouse, obscuring the view, and then plugs the cave mouth before heading for the lighthouse.
Punishment arrives at the lighthouse. She checks the lighthouse and there are 2 very strong Excrutian weapons in a store room. There are also about 6 potent weapons and 12 less potent flintlock-looking weapons. She bats the trident into the lighthouse and into the store room. Crunches the door so that nobody will open it soon. She explains what is going on. Then flies to the court house.
Crime and Guilt arrive at the cave and find Fungus.
Punishment overhears Tomas: “…formal hearing…statements from everyone…”
“Just the person I want to see.”
“Likewise.”
Fungus divines the fungus on the cave and discovers that the two beachcombers with the pick-up truck were the ones planting the weapons. “Where did he say that to put them?” “In the lighthouse. Let’s go.”
-Doyce (thinking out loud)
"You guys took Cold...And I really need to screw you guys with Cold..."
-Margie (talking about Fungus' Journal)
"Did you read about my comment about Tinker-Boy? You know, about how he's either hanging around Lust, or hanging on Lust..."
Stan "...Yeah...You know "LOOK NIPPLE RING'S! YEE-HAW! WEEeeeEEE!"" While doing swinging motions.
-After Doyce describes the Shipwreck Fungus says:
"Hey...That's not how you park a boat!"
-Punishment asking about the Pretty Boy.
Dave "Is he dead? Is he Unconscious? Is there a beam sticking out of his chest?"
Margie "Hey...There's Punishment's stick!"
-After Crime asks about the Ship.
Stan "Actually you're kind of expecting to see some of your cousin's clambering off of it."
John "Damn scurvy Haitians..."
-Crime's Plan.
John "I walk up to the pretty boy and Punishment and impersonate a Doctor...You know, because I can."
-Doyce describing Pretty Boy to John.
Doyce "...He has a knife on him."
John "Is it over six inches long...Because that's illegal!"
-Doyce describing the recently procured knife to John.
Doyce "You almost forget that you are carrying it"
Crime "I already have. Lets move on."
-Punishment doesn't care for the Mythic.
Dave: "I don't want to be involved with it. I don't want to be hands-on."
Margie: "She's management."
Dave: "Yeah, can't I just get an executive summary or something?
-After Margie's insight of Punishment as Management.
Dave "All I want is some graphs, and a summary. I don't want to make a deal with the Mythic Realm...Can't I get a Mythic Tri-corder or something."
John "Captain...This is all very illogical."
-While describing what Pretty Boy is wearing.
Doyce "He's in...ahhhh...Bicycle pants!"
Margie "Lycra...Spandex..."
Doyce "Nooo...More like a Bodysuit..."
Stan "A luger's Suit! LUGE!
Doyce "Yeah, but he's missing..."
Dave "Ice! A sled! Snow..."
John "...The Swiss! The Canadians! The East Germans..."
Doyce "...Noooo...Startrek pips"
-Punishment talking to Jurai.
Margie "...and Punishment is looking for the Stick..."
Stan "...with both hands! "Hey! Where's my Stick!""
-Cathatel asking about the Excrusian Weapon.
Cathatel "Was there a weapon?"
Punishment "Not that I noticed. Crime did have a strange sheath on a belt, but I did not look too closely."
John "Yes, one does not look into the Sun."
-Discussing Fungus' clothing.
Stan "We assumed that Fungus spends a lot of time in Bicycle pants."
John "Yes! It is a crime against nature...I am pleased."
Doyce "Yessss. Fungus, you sense much hand pumping from somewhere within the Chancel."
-Margie on Jurai.
"Mmmm...He's like Tim Curry at his Curry-est! Come up to the l-aaab, and see what's on the sl-aaab."
"Bossou is here! Mighty Bossou!" -- Bossou, on entering Storyville through downtown New Orleans.
"Woo! Show us your tits!" -- everyone on the streets of New Orleans
---
"You need to bring t'irty t'ousand more people into the Chancel." --Marie LeFleur
"Are you doing your part? Have a baby." --Lust
"I do not like the skinny one [Lust]." --Marie LeFleur
"No one does." --Death
"Did you say like or lick?" --Lust
"There once was a girl with a little brown curl right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good, she was very, very good. And when she was bad, she was horrid." -- Reality, to Lust, before Macy joins an orgy to summon Dhambala.
"...since this involves an orgy." --HG
"An orgy?" --Death
"Hey. Nobody wants you to join." --Lust
Death, commenting on Bossou's relatively not-so-high status:"Wait...you mean he's loa on the totem pole?"
"Was Orachi interested in the white food?" --Electricity
"Oh yeah. He ate the table." -- HG
"Hey! That's right! I have two more anchors! I can blow an anchor!" --Lust
[Everyone pauses for a moment to contemplate Lust blowing an anchor.]
"Oh, all right, I'll be your anchor..." --Death
"So how many bugs did you kill?" -- Reality, after Electricity killed all the bugs in a four-block radius out in the swamps.
"Enough to count as the sacrifice." -- HG
"Bossou will go now?" --Bossou
"Bossou will go NOW." -- Orachi
"Bossou will go...now!" --Bossou, triumphantly.
"Yeah, otherwise it would have been like that scene from Jurassic Park. Chomp!" (Hand gesture, snapping up something from above.) -- HG
"Bossou... the other white meat." -- Death
"Bossou is here! Mighty Bossou!" -- Bossou, on entering Storyville through downtown New Orleans.
"Woo! Show us your tits!" -- everyone on the streets of New Orleans
"What happens in Storyville...stays in Storyville." --HG
"If he hears the name of the creator thirteen times, he shall be free." --Amaciel (via Miss LaFleur's body)
"Psst. What's the name of the creator?" -- Reality
"Pick one." --Amaciel
"Well, we can mark this off the to-do list." --Lust
"Summon massive loa. Check. Get bananas. Check." --Death
"Poison the Imperator. Never be trusted again." --Death, sarcastically.
"We need to prioritize our emergencies here." --De (OOC)
"I slap him." --Death
"His head spins around on its pole. Whzzzzzzz." -- HG
"I enjoy that." --Death
"Did I mention there was an emergency?" --Lust, trying to hurry things along.
"Er...no?" -- Stephen Jurai
"I'm actually doing work for Mariska. Charming woman." -- Stephen Jurai
[With apologies to Lee for temporarily co-opting his character, I just had to write down this image that I had after Death's transformation]
===
The black, shining, tractile cocoon (resembling nothing so much as an unlabeled bodybag) shifted.
This was itself unusual; the thing had not moved since Death had first encased himself -- had left his familia and wandered in a haze of reflections and revelations (in the days following Pen Lo's execution), finally stopping and allowing the liquid darkness within and without to wrap his body in its embrace.
And the thing moved again.
It is the nature of a chrysalis to eventually part and reveal the metamorphosed creature within. In prosaic nature this is a slow and arduous process, but this event was neither prosaic or natural; the third movement within the chrysalis ended with the high rasping hiss of metal slicing through the skin of the cocoon and the human form within dropping lightly to the ground.
Terminus took in his surroundings, then himself. Things had changed. His form had shifted somewhat; he was more... 'attenuated' perhaps might be the word. His sword was still with him (was even more with him now than it had been in the past, in fact) and he felt his Estate --
my Estate... mine... no longer servant but master
-- move about him, filled with nuances he had never noticed before.
He reached for the core of millenia-long hatred that was the invisible crutch of his handicapped existence and the world tipped unexpectedly, dropping him to one knee as though he had reached for a support that was no longer there.
A great many things had changed.
For a moment, a small (albeit very unpleasant) smile ghosted over his lips at the prospects, and that was something new as well.