Re: Prologue: No Time Left

[CodexGigas]

Even in the slums of heaven, quintessence basins still flowed in the run-down plazas. Whether through some fluke of Celestial bureaucracy, or a trick played by her coworkers, Lightning had inherited a tiny sentry shrine that overlooked one such plaza. Manse or not, it was considered unlivable by citizens of heaven, especially given its ramshackle criminal surroundings.

Lightning smacked the side of a desk built into a niche, antique prayer-fire sputtering and hissing to life. As she prepared prayer strips and small offerings, Lightning popped open a locker above her head.

Lightning was a paragon of Temperance, but she had a single guilty pleasure she kept secret from the hosts of Heaven and only indulged in the most stressful or celebratory of occasions. If the lawmakers of Yu Shan ever caught her, she would almost certainly face an audit. Stealing a glance around the closet-sized guard post, Lightning pulled a brick covered in orichalcum foil out of the locker. Ambrosia. Sweet, sweet ambrosia.

Her first week on the job, horrified supervisors let Lightning know that she had just scarfed down a Shogun's ransom worth of the stuff. An entire year's operational budget, gone in an afternoon. Lightning swore up and down that it would never happen again, but the lure of Heaven's currency proved too great to resist, and so Lightning again found herself nibbling on a block of her salary as she prepared to save the East from certain doom.

[Ji]

Mistress awoke extra early the following day, so as to engage in her regularly scheduled debaucheries, and still have plenty of time to get ready for her guests. In her meeting room, a great table was set up, filled with the finest foods she could comfortably arrange to have present. Making sure to usher her servants out of the room, lest her guests assume an entirely different purpose to the meeting, she waited just inside her large, glistening black manse, which would shine brilliantly if the UCS would get back to winning. All her guests needed to do was arrive, and she could safely lead them down the corridors to the banquet, and the planning room, she couldn't forget the planning. Only a fool would undertake this mission without a plan.

[AlaskanWyvern]

Xian finally threw his hands up in frustration and ceased his night of prayers. Six centuries he'd worked with the pattern spiders, and yet they continued to be unmanageable and insufferable. Vowing to get the better of them one day, he washed up briefly, picked up his gear, and hailed a dragon boat, first on a personal stop, then to Mistress' part of town.

Despite Yu-Shan's perennially good weather, he wore an older set of clothing that he did not intend to travel in, and despite his having personal transportation, he did not use it. He didn't like being seen around Mistress' part of town, or even with a great many of the Joybringers. The partiers, he could tolerate, Mistress and her ilk made him feel like he shouldn't touch them if he ever wanted to eat with that hand again. Not that he had a particular problem with houses of ill repute, either... but the utter lack of decorum here turned debauchery from a private concert into street-corner sanxian abuse.

The rising sense of uncomfortableness grew until he finally reached his stop, the rounded, ebon pyramid casting its own unmistakable presence across the skyline. He stepped up to the flared base of the structure, knocked on the door, and waited, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. Yes, he was on official business in a place that was known to belong to another Vizier, but that didn't make it any less awkward.

[CodexGigas]

A handful a straggling gods from a party over months ago lounged around a pool waiting for the entertainment to resume. Hirshi, god of inexpensive candy, was the first to notice the rippling waters of the pool.

An Indomitable Battle Platform, scrawled with slogans in Clawspeak, erupted from the pool in a geyser of light. A smattering of applause came from the gods. The previous musicians had just walked in.

The pentagonal vessel hovered above the pool, ports irising open.

"Hurry! The East is in danger!" Lightning shouted out. More applause. "Wait, this isn't...By the horn of the mighty narwhal!" Lightning consulted her map. Why were there so many bathhouses in this district? Five hundred and eighty-seven pools? And why were so few of them full of water?

With an irritated grunt, Lightning landed the craft and whistled for a rickshaw.

"To Mistress's tower! There is not a moment to lose!" The aerial spirit looked confused. "It's the one that looks like...it's...uh..."

"Oh! You mean the big, black---"

"Yes! That one! Go!"

[Ji]

Mistress understood that certain other peoples had... differing sensibilities, and as such had little intention of forcing her captive companions to coalesce into one group before she let them in. Though she was a fan of subjecting her... servants, admirers, and assorted actual 'captives' to the degradation of waiting outside what was billed as "Luna's Personal S-" her thoughts on the matter were cut short by a secondary, and louder knock. She cursed her flightiness as she opened the heavy door with ease belying her seeming frailty, as she eyed the battles she'd been assigned to work with. Her own dressings were the long, simple, and most of all modest, white robes common to her first school of Martial Arts, and the one she offered instruction on to many young and naive exalts, Crane. Indeed, she could easily be mistaken for a kindly endings, rather than what her reputation insisted.

"Oh, come in, come in, you must be tired having... walked here?" she said, noting the complete lack of a form of transportation Xian owned. "I have plenty of space if you'd needed to store anything within my walls, Xian." she added, as she stepped to the side to allow him entrance. The white, marble walls inside were tastefully decorated with exotic plants, wooden furniture, and ornate rugs, and the air smelled of so many different perfumes it was hard to make out anything at all. The front door appeared to lead into a long, straight hallway, terminating in large double doors, though smaller doors were present at the sides every so often. "Just at the end of this hall is where we'll be having one last feast, and planning this ill-conceived escapade. You may wait there, and commence the festivities by your lonesome, or you may wait for the others here, with me."

She was just about to let Xian pass when she saw the familiar form of Lightning step from her own chosen mode of transport, a humble rickshaw. Waving enthusiastically, allowing the long sleeves of her white robes to contrast against the shimmering black background of her lovely manse, calling much attention to the open doorway, and the sidereals within it.

"Hurry up Lightning!" she shouted as loud as she could bellow. "You're going to miss the fun!"

[CodexGigas]

Lightning was pleasantly surprised by Mistress's austere appearance, although she didn't like the sound of this "fun." Bounding up the steps two at a time, Lightning delivered a snappy salute to Mistress before heading into the conference room.

[Nyarlathotep]

Whistling a cloud down, Sarat headed towards Mistress's Manse. Now he was running late. The time in the mirror's thrall, the necessary recovery after, and now traffic from a Censor's entourage's passing put him well behind. Inside he fumed over it all, berating himself for not ensuring he could use Mercury's blessing, while Forsythia tried to calm him.

He had never been to the manse. Her reputation proceeded her but he wasn't sure what to expect from her home. This, most certainly, was not it. As they landed and read the sign he went red in the face, causing Forsythia to laugh loudly, enjoying his embarrassment. "This must be the Spider's fault. What did I do this time?" He wracked his memory, trying to find what may have angered Asana's children so much. "Why couldn't it be a group of Oracles?" Sighing he knocked.

[CodexGigas]

"Look at all this waste!" Lightning fumed to Xiangfan. "And they threw away all the internal organs and bones? That's the best part!" She started rummaging. "Here, help me find a winterbreath jar or something. We can take the leftovers with us."

[AlaskanWyvern]

Xiang followed Mistress down the suspiciously normal hallway into the suspiciously normal feast room, setting his gear down out of the way. The apparent normalcy was relieving, right up until Mistress opened her mouth. He bowed politely and sat down, waiting for Lightning's arrival. Perhaps someone else would bring some stability to the group dynamic... But then Lightning immediately started rummaging, he couldn't quite help a slight facial tic.
He cleared his throat and smiled gently at Lightning. "Perhaps it would be best to discuss leftovers after we've eaten and discussed the mission? We wouldn't want to be rude to our host."

[Ji]

Mistress bowed as she opened the door finally, for Sarat. She had no intention of waiting for their fifth, whom her servant had reported being unable to deliver the message to, as she bowed warmly, and turned to lead him into the dining hall proper.

When she arrived to see Lightning evidently enthusiastically enjoying the light meal provided, she simply smiled and clapped, as she took her own seat.

"I'm sorry it's not much, but it was short notice, and I'm sure we expect to be traveling later, so I didn't want to load us down too heavily..." she said, waving a hand across the rather large table, loaded with many meats, cheeses, assorted vegetables, copious amounts of liquor, and of course, what appeared to be foul smelling yellow-ish gelatin. What she called little, many of her fellows would probably have deemed fairly excessive, for a meal between four coworkers.

"Now, while I'd hate to interrupt pleasure with business... I'd like to get things settled as soon as we can..." she paused, and pointed at Lightning, "How do you suppose we should get there, and what will we need once we're there..." she paused, turning to look at Sarat, before continuing, "And Sarat, have you learned anything the rest of us might need to know?"

[CodexGigas]

Lightning continued stuffing dried meats and cheese in her rucksack as she outlined her plan. "I docked our vessel at a pool near here with a month's travel rations on board--give or take a couple days," she said as she brandished a cheese wheel. "I can have us in the city in five days, or outside the city if anyone on the committee has relevant information."

Lightning began filling an empty waterskin with liquor as she nodded toward Xiang. "Our transport should prove a major tactical asset for any military maneuvers," another nod toward Sarat, "or any covert operations that need to be undertaken."

[Nyarlathotep]

Taking a seat, Sarat made a small plate up for himself while trying to ignore Lightning's antics. The maps he had created appeared from a pocket soon after he was settled. He quickly handed one to everyone, "These are the best I've come up with about the layout of the city." For the next few minutes he lay out everything he had learned about the city, focusing on each district in turn. "As you can see it is quite an interesting city." For a few minutes he allowed the others to digest the city.

"Now, the more important part of my research." He pulled out the mirror, "I believe this allows the user to view Endings, but it is dangerous for the user. However, within it I saw what I believe was a view of Denandsor. Surrounding it was a powerful storm. Passing through it would be dangerous and perhaps deadly." He turned to Lightning, "If you can bring us straight into the city, that would likely be the best method."

"Before you all ask, yes there was more, no I do not believe now is the time to share them. Just understand I do not believe this problem will be easily solved and could be a symptom of a much larger, more dangerous problem."

[AlaskanWyvern]

Having eaten at least some on his way out the door, Xiang took a small helping of meat, sniffing the gelatinous substance once while Sarat spoke and then avoiding it. "Good work, Sarat. These maps will be of great help," he said, finishing a mouthful of beef. "Lightning, what type of vessel did you say you had, again? An important city of the Solars was likely guarded, and may very well be still. We should do as much reconnaissance from it as possible before we go in on foot. If anything looks likely to move of its own volition, I want to be able to fix that before we go in."

[CodexGigas]

"First Age battle platform. It is not the luxurious option, but it can remain unseen and in flight, which should serve our purpose well." Lightning cinched her rucksack shut. "If we have all the supplies we need, we can discuss further plans on the journey."

[Nyarlathotep]

((Memory Rolls)

[The_GM]

The member 'Nyarlathotep' has done the following action : Dice roll

#1 'd10' : 4, 10, 3, 3, 4

--------------------------------

#2 'd10' : 9, 4, 2, 1, 6

[Nyarlathotep]

"There is always the locked gate. I'm not sure how much time it would take to bring it back online and get it officially, or even unofficially, reactivated, nor if it would even work. In the vision the clouds moved oddly, almost as if there was a barrier stopping them." Sarat paused for a drink, "Whether that is because of a ward, barrier, an effect of the miasma, or the null time, I'm not sure. If it is the latter, the gate likely will not activate from this end."

[AlaskanWyvern]

Xiangfan nodded. "So if worst came to worst, we could hypothetically get someone working on whatever paperwork needs filing from this end, then activate it from that end as a backup escape plan, perhaps?"

[Nyarlathotep]

"I would agree that would be the best solution." With a flash into a pocket sheaves of paper appeared next to him, "I'll start the process of opening the gate to ourselves and other approved individuals." He pulled the last page from the bottom, "If you can all sign this, it should make this go faster." With single minded determination he made quick work of the documents, finally signing it all with a flourish. Sarat looked around at his fellow Sidereals, "Is everyone ready? As soon as we hear a timeline for the gate I think we should be on our way."

[CodexGigas]

Finished cramming food into her rucksack, Lightning signed the page. And initialed pages 3, 7, and 9. And signed again and printed her name in BLOCK CAPITALS and dated her signatures. Yu Shan bureaucracy was nothing if not thorough.

"Hopefully our transport is still waiting. I'm not sure how secure this neighborhood is." Lightning checked to make sure she still had enough salt left to get them all the way to Denandsor.

[Nyarlathotep]

Sarat checked and double checked the paperwork. Satisfied he gathered them up and disappeared them into a pocket. With a final look at his 'allies' he made his way to the door, "I'll just file these and meet you all at the gate."

A trip along the canals left him in front of the Office of the Celestial Gateways. With a flick of Essence he gathered impossibility around himself and stepped outside of Fate. Waltzing inside he easily avoided the office head and sneaked into the back. Finally he reached the god in charge of the Gate's locks and dropped the paper in front of her. A simple whisper into her ear had her filing the paperwork and starting the process to unlock the Denansor Gate.

Not bothering to drop his charm, Sarat jumped aboard a dragon-boat heading to the meeting place. On arriving he reappeared and waited for his accomplices.

((2nd and Fateful Bureaucracy Excellency (15 success + teamwork benefits, so 19 total I think) on the paperwork. Walking Outside Fate and Subordinate Inspiration Technique for delivering it.))

[LightOfDawn]

When he arrived at the gate, there was no one there. For a minute or two, Sarat thought it hadn't worked. Then, a messenger god and a rather puzzled-looking Celestial Lion arrived by dragon boat, holding the key and a piece of paper that presumably carried the activation codes.

Unlocking and pushing aside the sliding doors, the clerk read the codes aloud. The gate hummed, but the adamant tunnel that should have appeared... didn't. Instead, the gate just kept humming, apparently stuck. That answered that question - Denandsor was inside the null-time field.

"Huh. What's wrong with it?" the god wondered, and walked over to hit the frame a few times (as if that would help). "That's never happened before..."

[AlaskanWyvern]

"Perhaps you're not hitting it hard enough?" Xiangfan cocked an eyebrow as he arrived to see the partway-activated gate. "I suppose that will keep anyone who shouldn't be using it from doing so, while we worry about the other end. Just stick an 'Out of Order' sign on it for now, but leave it open" he said, directing his last instruction to the messenger god.

"Shall we take the normal way in?" he asked his cohorts.

[CodexGigas]

Gods still hanging around the pool broke out into a smattering of applause as Lightning returned with her committee. On board the battle platform, she gestured toward netting hanging from the ceiling for stowing gear. As the essence engines hummed to life and the platform drifted over the pool, Lightning muttered a quick prayer to Mercury.

"Though the Journey is more important than the destination, deliver us safely there. May the road rise up to meet us. May the wind be always at our back. May our boots stay dry and our rations unspoilt, and may every inn have ready and reasonably priced accommodation. Amen."

Casting a handful of salt into the pool, Lightning steered the platform into the seething white waves.

"Denandsor, ho!"

[LightOfDawn]

As the ship sank beneath the waves, Heaven's time dilation alarms began to ring again, and above, Saturn's star gave way to Jupiter's.

End Prologue

All players get 12 xp.

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