Once it's clear that the revenants aren't following, Tasha and the others are able to collect some more of the armor and weapons from the Dragon Palace temple. Then it's a rapid poling across the swamp to Toth's camp, where they left the wagon and drays. While the lizard-taur begins packing up his belongings, Gabriel brings a tarp to Tasha, saying, "You'll probably want to wrap up the Marker."
"Oh, definitely. Thank you," Tasha replies, taking the tarp and carefully wrapping up the marker before carefully trying to wedge it in to her pack. As she does, she remarks, "We have all three now. All that remains is to return to Abaddon. I admit, I wasn't sure we'd find one of them, let alone all of them. But we shouldn't let our guard down -- if anything, I think this will be the most dangerous time. If anyone has been watching us, now would be the time to strike at us. And if we lose these Markers, we could have a serious problem."
"I'm more concerned with what happens when we get back to the Rake," Aaron comments, as he checks over supplies and weapons for the third or fourth time. "Is there anything in the myths about what happens when two of those things are in close proximity? Or if baking in Forbidden Zones for a few thousand years is critical?"
"Well, only two of them were in Forbidden Zones," Hakeber points out. "The Vartan one was just.. uh.. sat on by an alien god or something.."
"Well, what about them being together though?" Gabriel asks the scholar, getting things back to the original question.
Put on the spot, Hakeber shrinks a bit, omega style. "Uh.. no idea? I figured the Kampfengruppe would be the ones to know the most about that stuff.."
"An extra-dimensional alien god," Tasha correct. She pats her pack, then checks the connections to make sure it's secure. "As for bringing them together, I guess it can't be helped at this point. I'll take the lead on that -- it's my project, so if anything happens it should happen to me. When The Rake arrives, what we can do, is I'll leave this one with the rest of you and you'll move outside the city. Pretend you're having an arguement or something. Make it look like we're doing something else. I'll then fetch the second and flag you."
"Then you'll leave the Marker on the ground and return to the city ASAP. I'll fly to where you left the Marker and then put them in contact," the red woman finishes.
"Mmmmmmm," Gabriel grumbles. "Why the deception? I'm sure Eyeshine would be proud that you were thinking of the ship's safety, after all."
"The deception is in case unsavory types from the city wonder why you're walking off alone. It's to protect you and the Marker," Tasha clarifies, smiling.
"The idea is to risk only one person with as much safety precautions as possible," she adds.
"Except I'll be with you," Gabriel points out.
Tasha gives Gabriel a look. "I know you're worried, but risking the both of us is a unnecessary. Besides, if the Markers were going to kill me, Lord Yama could have done it himself, and earlier," she points out.
"Yes, but if they don't do anything, you still need me to carry the other one back," Gabriel says. "Because you are not going to be flying with both of them. Just in case."
"That seems like a flimsy excuse," Tasha notes, cocking her head to the side in a particuarly avian look of skeptecisim. "Am I to take this as an order, then?"
"If that's what it takes," Gabriel says, standing firm. "And I'll feel better if you were on the ground before we started bringing the artifacts together."
"Did Tasha tell you about the Starfish, the Magic Cheese, the Ugly Statue and the demon?" Aaron asks Hakeber, who just shakes her head.
"Well I did plan to land first. But I can't deny an order, so I'll let the matter drop," Tasha says, though she still eyes her mate and both her ears and tail are up now. "Anyway, we'll worry that late-" Now it's Aaron that gets the look.
"Just wait.. if nothing happens, she'll be stacking the Markers on top of one another, or trying to stick them together or something," the Lapi assures.
"I had hoped Apollyon's sword might provide the answer, and I intend to distribute them for analysis before plotting on how to rearrange them," the half-Vartan insists. She then glances back to Gabriel and asks, "Is it me or does no one have any faith in me today? Or, is it the Forbidden Zone taking effect on us?"
Hakeber says, "I have faith.. well.. Okay maybe I never expected you to find all three of the Markers, and now that you have I find myself a bit obsolete."
"But you've found proof of your ideas, haven't you? You'll have a front row seat to seeing your research bear fruit," Tasha insists as she walks to the wagon. "Right or wrong, in time you'll be able to stand before your peers and reveal the truth of an ancient mystery. Though, you may need to wait a while -- we'd like to keep the details of all this secret until we can understand the fallout."
"My research was incomplete though," Hakeber notes, getting into the wagon. Toth exits his hovel with a few extra spears and a large bundle on his back. "Time to go!" he declares.
"You'll have time to complete it. We don't plan to reveal this information for a while yet. And that's just if the information remaisn the same. If something happens with these artifacts, or, well, if other things come to pass, we'll really need to consider how to reveal what we've been doing. There's the political angle to consider, which could be a major problem, especially with the Silent-Ones," Tasha remarks as she hops in to the driver's seat and begins checking the reigns.
Finally, the small caravan gets underway, with Toth leading the way out of the Beast Lands. After that it's a matter of retracing their original back-roads path to avoid the main lanes of 'commerce' used by the regional warlords. It's slow of course, but several days later they are passing back through the gates of Harrison's Hold.
"The Rake should be returning tomorrow," Gabriel notes, checking the calendar. "We actually made it back ahead of time."
"That's good. I, for one, am looking forward to a bit of R&R before The Rake arrives," Tasha remarks, then stretches her arms and wings out to full. "Nnngh, all this walking and armor is really hard on my wings."
"Speaking of armor," Aaron notes, poking up from the back of the wagon, "we aren't going to try and sell any of this stuff here are we? It's going to the Empire, right?"
"Oh gods no, the last thing we need these people knowing is that we're carrying valuables -- especially valuables of interest to warlords," Tasha confirms as her arms and wings settle. "We'll probably keep as much as we can haul. While we don't have any right now, I hope we'll eventually have Naga JEF members, and tehy'll need protection too."
"Most of this armor is from the cultists though," Hakeber notes. "It looks fancier than the regular stuff though."
"The question now is: do we get lodging, or camp out?" Gabriel asks. They're in the settlement proper now. "We probably should try to sell the wagon and hor-.. Dromodon.. too."
"Religions just love their extravagance," Tasha agrees. "We'll have our engineers remove anything that may suggest an affilition other than JEF. Black armor isn't exactly uncommon with us," she then knocks on her just, making a low, metalic thump, "so the color scheme if fine. As for lodging or camping, we're about as vulnerable either way, leaning towards lodging, so we may as well be comfortable and a bit safer. Aaron, would you mind taking care of those sales?"
"Sure," the Lapi notes. "Is Toth sticking with us for now, or going his own way?"
"As a courtesy for his help, we'll see if The Rake will be making its way to Nagai any time soon after we depart, and pay his way. We should also write him something to carry to the appropriate people, to identify him and extend our courtesy to the relevant scholarly institutions. It never hurts to start building trust early," answers the hybrid.
"That is, unless he'd be interested in joining our group?" The red woman adds, arching a brow and looking to the man.
"When I first laid eyes on you, Tasha, I thought: Yup, there's a girl who knows how to right a good letter," Aaron claims, before ducking back into the wagon.
Toth is still marveling a bit at the 'city' around him, even if it's little more than a frontier outpost. "So many people," he hisses, then happens to glance towards Tasha. "What?"
"Does this sort of thing interest you? Do you want to see more of this world, and many others? Meet new people? Explore ruins, and see how far you can go and learn?" Tasha explains, pointedly ignoring Aaron and his remark.
Toth puffs up his chest, and proudly says, "No! I like treasure and status."
Gabriel cocks an ear towards the back of the wagon, but no follow up remark is forthcoming from the rabbit.
Tasha laughs at that, holding up her hands in apology. "Say no more. Nevermind." She gives the reptile another smile, then settles in behind the reigns. "Letter it is."
There's only one lodge in town, and the innkeeper apparently isn't used to such a large group.. or one that needs so much space, anyway. "How many rooms?" the old tiger Khatta asks.
"One room," Tasha answers, turning to shrug at her party. "It's all we can afford after all."
The tiger looks over the party again, then shrugs and hands over a key. "Second on the left, ground floor."
"Thanks!" Tasha grabs the key, then she's walking down the hall. "We'll sleep in shifts like before. That will allow us to save some money and also appear to be a difficult target, to dissuade thieves and toughs. We'll move everything inside. It'll be crowded, but that's life! Oh, and secure the windows."
Securing the windows is easy, since the only one is little more than a ventilation slit. There's a hay-stuffed mattress, a chamber pot and a small shelf with a bowl and pitcher. "There's barely room for our stuff," Aaron notes. "Dibs on top bunk!"
"There isn't a bunk.." Hakeber notes.
"I know, I mean 'I get to sleep on top of someone else' if we're going in shifts," the Lapi explains.
"Hake and I will be one shift, with you and Aaron the second one, okay Captain?" Tasha asks her mate, ears perked.
"Sure, I can use the bunny as a pillow," Gabriel agrees with a grin. "It may be cramped and smelly and little better than a barn.. but it's indoors and not on wheels and relatively soft."
"Haha, you're all so soft! This is how I lived until I joined the JEF, you know!" Tasha pats Hakeber on the shoulder, consolingly. "We should be okay for a while. Want to go out and see the sights, Hake, and see if we can bring back some food? The roughs won't barge in here too soon."
"Two girls on the town?" Hakeber asks, and grins despite herself. "I bet we can drink for free."
"Keep her out of trouble," Gabriel tells Tasha.
"Oh I bet. It'll be interesting to see the crews -- The Rake never ventured this far off the usual trade routes, so we're probably dealing with mercenaries, pirates, and that sort. Not that I like pirates. Anyway!" Tasha leaves Apollyon's sword with gabriel, and instead takes three of the Naga weapons, securing one to Hakeber's belt until she's happy with how it looks before securing her own.
With that done, she thumbs the exit and grins. "Lets go."
There's only one bar (or tavern, if you're really hungry). Toth is there, and he does buy the women the first round. The tables are of the plank-and-sawhorse variety with benches - easily replaced in case of bar fights probably. The mugs are standard leather ones, and the beer is.. well it's got alcohol in it, certainly. Maybe things just don't brew well at this altitude.
"Ahh, this brings back memories," Tasha remarks before chugging back her drink and wincing. "Lots of memories," she adds after making a face, then she laughs. "How about you Hake? Having fun?"
"We are the only women here and these men look like they eat smaller men for breakfast, and maybe wear the inedible bits as trophies," Hakeber notes with a forced smile.
For the most part, the clientele consists of Khattas and Jupani, with a lone Titanian. None of them have so much as leered in the direction of the women yet. Drinking is more important.
"Not to feel so bad," Toth says. "You cannot help being unattractive," he tells Hakeber consolingly.
Tasha barks a laugh at that, as well. "Like I said, memories! Just don't drink too much and follow my lead, and you'll be find. Besides, they don't look interested in us anyway."
When Toth speaks, Tasha laughs all over again and pats her friend's shoulder. "That sounds like a woe that deserves a drink."
The hunter is not about to treat the girls to a second round though. Maybe if they were showing more leg. Or sets of legs. "I've never paid for a drink in a bar," Hakeber laments. "I'm going to lose my bar tab virginity here, I can tell.."
"Changes comes to us all, whether we like it or not. Embrace the spirit of Abaddon's teaching's and meet conflict with bravery," Tasha remarks, sounding like she might be quoting something. "Besides, the real fun hasn't started yet. I'll get this rounf, though." Lifting her right hand, she waves the proprietor over.
Fresh mugs are brought. "What sort of fun?" Hakeber asks. "We can't get too drunk after all. I'm too anxious to get wasted, I think. Now we have to look into doing the dangerous stuff.."
"Oh, I mean bar fights. With these types it's almost guaranteed. I've always wanted to punch a pirate. Have to be careful though, and do it right -- it'd be different fighting a whole ship. Have to careful of weapons too!" Tasha winks, then props her head on to the table. "How about you Toth? What do you want to see?"
"Dancing girls!" Toth says, waving his mug over his head. "Or a Dromodon with makeup.."
"Are you sure it's safe to fight pirates?" Hakeber asks, looking around. "Have you done it before?"
"I've fought everyone before," Tasha insists, contracdicting herself. Then, she takes another drink. "Ship crews, guard members, city sized bugs, people sized bugs, myself, merchants, tourists, machines, my mother ... "
"Lapi?" Hakeber asks, hugging her mug.
"Well, not many Lapi. They just don't frequent where I used to hang out, and I never did get a chance to pick a fight in Amazonia. As a god, I wasn't really supposed to. Did I ever tell you about my religion?" Tasha asks.
"Not really," the scholar admits. "Does it involve wearing corsets?"
"No, but it does involve your world. I'm a follower of Abaddon, known to the people of Sinai as the war god, god of conflict and strife. My mother-errr, that is, Tisiphone looks like me, and she's one of Abaddon's brood, so they thought I was a god for a while. It's when I really started down this path, but that's old hat -- you've heard that story before," Tasha explains.
Then, Tasha suddenly remarks, "Wait, do you think they think I'm a guy, because of, you know ... " She waggles her hand at her armor-flattened chest.
"If they do, then they must think you're tough since nobody is hitting on me for fear of offending you," Hakeber says diplomatically.
Toth just looks surprised. "You are a girl?" he asks Tasha.
Tasha just sighs. "Well, I may as well make the most of it." And then she picks Hakeber up and puts her in her lap.
"There, now you can't say no one flirted with you, either," she says with a grin.
"Hey, you know I go both ways right," Hakeber says, grinning and raising her mug. "What's our plan, anyway? Are we heading back to the Gateway?"
"Oh I know," Tasha says, winking. "And that's right. No reason to waste money and time. I'd have liked to stop by and give the Temple my regards, but they'll understand if we can't manage it this time around."
"What about getting the Marker's tested?" Hakeber asks. "I mean.. don't you need magicians for that?"
"They predate Sinaian magicians, but lets not talkd about work here, hokay?" Tasha answers.
"But if magic is Sifran.. ah, okay," Hakeber says, and has a swig from her mug. "You realize we need to talk to the Kamp at some point, right? We need to know what they know.. or think they know. I think."
"It is very lonely in the swamp," Toth offers.
"That will be a fun exchange. I half expect we might enter in to a covert war with them, depending on how much they stick to their beliefs. They're as likely to be our enemies as anyone. Still, we can hope for the best." Tasha taps her mug to Hakeber's, then adds, "As for magic, well, who knows? If it comes to that we know who to contact. Incidentally, if I die tomorrow, don't give up, okay?"
"I'm sure if it were dangerous to bring the thingies together, there would have been mention of it," Hakeber notes. "That poem talked about bringing them together, and didn't mention dire consequences."
"Of course, it also mentioned some other circumstances. About knowing what he is and all his kin, part him in three, and knit him as the trinty. The Source thought he might be extradimensional, but he is also us, as we're his children. But I could be wrong," Tasha says, then takes another drink. "We'll know sooner or later. Anyway, this place is kind of dead, so want to bring the boys something to eat?"
"They have food?" Hakeber asks, and sniffs. "Oh.. some kind of meat! Yeah, we have to provide for the weaker sex and all that.. except for Aaron, he won't eat meat."
"We should have stayed in the Zone longer, then maybe he would have learned to!" Tasha gets out one more laugh, then flags the proprietor down again. "Three plates of meat and one of greens, and two flagons of beer. We have places to be!"
"Greens?" the tiger asks, looking confused. "See the Rhian stable-hand for those." He goes to fill the rest of the order.
"Um, guess we'll have to. Oh one more order of meat for the lizard!" Tasha then shrugs to Hakeber and Toth. "Toth, would you mind carrying the food back to our room, while we go find Aaron's dinner?" She pulls out some coins and hands them over. "This should be enough."
"Assuredly," the reptilian says. The stables are not far, since the outpost is small, after all.
Tasha stretches all over again once outside. "I need to get you all wings, all this walking is going to ruin me." She then nods towards the stables. "Well, there we are. Lets get what we came for and head down. I didn't want to mention it inside, but I think I'm too anxious to really relax. I may as well head to bed after this, in anticipation of tomorrow's tests."
"You've got the legs for walking though," Hakeber says.
Nobody is out and about at the stable, but there's a door with light leaking out around the edges.
"I don't mind walking, but I feel like my wings will fall off at this rate." Tasha pauses at the open door, then shrugs and heads inside. "Hello?"
"AAAAGH!" yells the pony Rhian giving himself a spongebath on the other side. "Knock!"
"Whoa," Hakeber can't help but say as she stares.
Tasha just grins. "You ought to close the door if you don't want anyone walking in. Too late now; we need some greens for our lapi friend."
"What? Food?" the man asks, and then covers up a bit from Hakeber's stare. "How much?" he adds, reaching for a towel.
"Just one meal. We don't want the poor guy to starve. We'll pay double for the inconvience and, um, well ..," she waggles a hand at the naked man, grinning even wider. "Just don't try and cheat us."
"We could wash your back," Hakeber offers. The pony just gives her an odd look, as he wraps the towel around himself and heads for the back of the shed.
"Well she could, my mate might take exception -- and ask why I'm not washing his." For her part, tasha decides to give the man some privacy and starts looking elsewhere. "Get a lot of pirates this way?"
"I don't ask," the stable-hand says. "But yes, of course. They sell to the Warlords, or take commissions," he explains, before returning with a.. feedbag. "I'll need the bag back," he notes. "Four Shekels," he says, then looks down and notices Tasha's legs and tail. "Hmmm."
Tasha hands over the shekels, brows raised. "See something interesting?"
"Nice flanks," the man says with a grin, as he struggles to keep the towel in place with one hand, hand over the bag and take the money all at the same time.
Tasha looks down at herself, grinning. "Mom liked her adventures, and I keep busy. I'm probably the first Kar- um, Jupani-Vartan you've ever seen?"
"Don't get many Vartan women out here," the pony claims. "Think I could make a Pegasus? Got a sister?"
Hakeber pouts off to the side.
"Sorry, I'm one-of-a-kind," Tasha answers with a wink. "But I'm glad you could tell the difference, I was beginning to think no one could."
"Well, think of me if you need to be fitted for a saddle while you're here," the pony winks.. then closes the door.
"That is so not fair," Hakeber complains. "I've always wanted a pony, and now there's a world where they talk and take baths and probably wear leather pants and.." She just trails off.
Tasha cackles, patting Hakeber's shoulder. "Some times you win and some times you lose. Rhians aren't uncommon though. I'll help you look next time we're in a port on Sinai."
"Are they all big and stupid though?" Hakeber asks, and then gives Tasha a sly look. "Are they.. too much to handle?"
"Maybe for you, I am half-Vartan." She then holds her hands apart, to indicate certain lengths of the aforementioned anatomy. "And no, they're not dumb. That's just a stereotype, just like with Varatns. We tend to work in the same places, too"
"Okay that might be too much," Hakeber admits as they enter the inn.
"I find you can usually guess based on size and species, and of course there's more you can do than just the usual." Tasha explains as the head down the hall, where she pauses to knock. "It's us!"
The door is opened by a Aaron, who has his ears tied under his chin. Behind him, Gabriel and Toth are singing some sort of shanty. It's not the same shanty, of course, or even the same language.
Tasha stares for a moment, then simply shrugs. "Could be worse! Looks like we have second shift, since the bos will be out in an hour at this rate. Anyway, lets settle in. The sooner I get everything handled and us back on The Rake, the sooner I can relax."
When The Rake arrives and docks, everyone (except Toth) is focused on the Naga Marker, even though the airship is hundreds of yards away from their room. "Anything?" Hakeber asks Tasha. "Hallucinations or weird sounds or cravings?"
"Nothing," Tasha reports. "I'll go get the Marker. Gabriel, would you mind carrying this one outside the city? Toth, could you go with him? Use your mirror to flag me when you feel you're far enough. I'll get Hake on board and warn the Captain."
"I'll.. guard the stuff," Aaron volunteers.
"Thanks Aaron. I'll send some crew down to assist you." Before she leaves, Tasha gives her mate a kiss.
Once away from her party, Tasha takes wing and aims to land on The Rake's deck. "Ahoy down there!"
Eyeshine waits on deck, watching over anchor lines. "Tasha!" he squawks. "Where is everyone else? You eat the bunny?"
After landing, Tasha smiles at her once-captain and father figure. "They're on their way. Could you send a few of the loaders to the inn, we have some artifacts to load up and we'd prefer to keep the locals from being too nosy. Are our things secure?"
"Yeah, nobody touch your weird stuff," Eyeshine says. "How you make out this time?"
"We found another one of the Markers, plus a lot of old armor and crew tags from an ancient Celestial Empire frigate, a space ship. We'll be bringing it all on board, but before we're set to leave, Gabriel and I need to test a pair of artifacts to make sure they ... " Tasha purses her muzzle, head tilting as she thinks on how to word hr concerns. "Well, that there's no dangerous reaction between them. That's why Gabriel and I are taking them outside the city and away from The Rake, in case something should happen."
"What you expect to happen?" the old Vartan asks, his neck feathers puffing out.
Tasha shrugs, holding her hands out. "These artifacts are older the the Expedition, possibly hundreds of thousands of years old -- and that's a conservative estimate. They may well predate the Vartan people. So, to summarize, we just don't know. And that's why we can't risk this ship, the town, or our civilian associates."
"You better not explode," Eyeshine says, pointing a talon right at Tasha's nose. "You feel weird you no go further."
Tasha offers an apologetic, if somewhat sad smile. "Being an explorer means never knowing when you may die, or how. Accepting the risk is something I have to do as part of being a member of the JEF. It won't be the first time I've nearly been killed, either. I wish I could promise I'll be safe, but I can't." She reaches up and pats Eyeshine's pointing hand. "I'm sorry, but I need to get going. Gabriel is waiting."
The big Vartan suddenly pulls Tasha into a hug, but it's brief. "Okay, go get to work," Eyeshine says. "I no raise lazy bird."
Tasha returns the hug, letting her's linger a little longer. It is, after all, one of the few times her father figure has ever hugged her. When she steps back, she's smiling with confidence. "Yes, sir." She salutes, then she rushes in to the hold to fetch the Marker.
Minutes later, Tasha's rushing back on deck with a leather-bound, vaguely geometric package. She heads for the fore, leaning over the rail to look the mirror's flash.
It takes some time before she catches the flash: it's coming from a dry riverbed that runs down the shallower side of the mountain.
"Here we go. I hope Toth is far enough away," Tasha murmurs to herself before stepping on the rail, then off in to the sky.
it's several minutes before Tasha lands, as she aims to land within the riverbed a good ways out. She hits the ground running, making towards the spot Gabriel is waiting at.
The wrapped Marker is resting against a boulder, with Gabriel and Toth to either side. The reptile lowers his mirror once he spots Tasha coming.
When she approaches, Tasha asks, "Toth? You don't want to get clear?" She pauses a good twelve feet away as she waits for the man's answer.
"Huh?" the centaur asks. "Oh, you want me to run?"
"It's up to you. This might be dangerous." Tasha answers.
"More than hunting the dragon?" Toth asks.
"No one knows. I would suggest not touching either artifact. As far as we are aware, I am the only one authorized to access them -- and the 'dragon' made it clear those who shouldn't risk their lives." Tasha explains.
Toth nods, and runs off about a hundred yards.
"Smart man," Tasha says as the lizard runs off. She then grins at her mate, adding, "But smart people stay away from adventure, right? Ready sexy?"
"How do you want to do this?" Gabriel says. "Uncover them both before bringing them closer?"
"I'll uncover this one now," and she does, "and ... here we go. I'm going to move them closer and closer until they touch."
Step by step, Tasha does just that, moving ever closer.
Gabriel uncovers the triangular Nagai Marker, and watches it for any changes. So far.. well, the figures aren't moving at least.
"Hands clear," Tasha warns as she nears, until she's standing right over the artifacs, holding her's roughly four feet above the other, then slowly lowering it.
It isn't clear at first, but as they get closer together.. they look more natural. The 'depth' in them flattens out, and there seems to be less 'motion' even though nothing moves anyway.
"There's a reaction -- deformation in structure, internal motion is reducing. They appear to be flattening." Carefully, Tasha keeps going.
With six inches to go.. the two Markers look like actual stone, with the engravings on the surface instead floating inside somehow.
"This is.. sort of the opposite of what I would have expected," Gabriel notes.
"Surface markings, stone-like texture," Tasha reports, muscles straining as she precisely moves the Markers closer and closer. "It's like they're inverting somehow. Could we be dealing with twisted space? An object with more than four working dimensions?"
"I'd have said 'not likely' before you brought chunks of something like that off a giant flying plate monster," Gabriel notes. "I would have expected the things to look normal until you brought them together. This.. looks like they may be dampening one another somehow?"
"Maybe they're in resonnance, or we're dealing with overlapping fields. They may not be solid objects as we know them at all, but projections of energy or some other, alien substance. I'm going to bring them in contact now. Stand by," Tasha replies.
Taking a deep breath, Tasha leans forward and brings the Markers in contact.
There's a click, and the texture of the one being held feels distinctly stone-like now. There is nothing odd about the Markers now: they look and feel and seem to weigh exactly as carved stone should.
For several seconds, Tasha just stands there, waiting.
"They're supposed to be keys," Gabriel notes. "Keys that must neutralize more of the same material, to make it.. passable? I don't know, but something like that," he suggests.
"I think you have something there. The poem says we must 'know him', and 'part him in three' and that three will 'form a trinity' and the 'Philosopher's Stone.' Stone may be literal in this case." The Vartan reaches down and picks up the second Marker, holding each in the crooks of her arms. "Knowing him ... 'Know him and all his kin,' he's our maker with many faces. We are his kin. Well, I am, partially. Karnors aren't. Parting him in three is three of his kin, his 'blood.' Kniting him as the trinity is bringing them together. Maybe they neutralize each other even more when three are in contact? And we still don't know where they need to be brought, save that it's probably on Arcadia."
"I think Hakeber is right," Gabriel says, sounding unhappy about it. "You need to find someone who knows more about this, even if it means dealing with conflicting objectives. If the Kampfengruppe were founded by humans who came specifically because of the Progenitor cult.."
Tasha walks over and offers Gabriel the Naga Marker, then begins to wrap up her own. "I was afraid you'd say that. You know that revealing what we have could put us in to conflict with them? Possibly even outright hostility if they realize we have enough Markers to potentially approach Adam? You know they don't care for the other species; the JEF itself may offend them as an idea," she points out.
"And we have Apollyon's sword and Harmonia's memory banks. They may reveal something," she adds as she rolls her Marker in its tarp.
The Karnor grins. "See, back in the olden days, we had this thing called espionage for finding things out without exposing what we knew to potential enemies," he notes. "Hakeber has a contact within the Kampfengruppe, to have of learned as much as she has."
Tasha raises her brows. "Are ... you sure about spying? Do we want to go that far, if Hakeber can't get any details? Or if she raises their ire; Hake's in a vulnerable position if they feel she's using them. And they may try to use her in turn. As much as I like her, we can't assume her interests rest entirely with us and it's not right to ask her to manipulate contacts she needs for her own career," she notes.
"Scholars have always been uses as spies, Tasha," Gabriel explains. "Because by their nature, they want to share their secrets with one another and collaborate. I guarantee her contact is another scholar within the Kampfengruppe. They're always the ones who are the most frustrated in authoritarian regimes."
"Good point. I'm afraid I don't have much experience in that area, or, really, in episonage and spywork. As you probably know, I favor the direct route if I can help it." The red woman winks. "But just to be sure, what do we do if we end up in conflict? If Hake is in danger, or if they won't share what we need?"
"I don't know," Gabriel admits, and starts back up the riverbed. "I don't know enough about the group to be able to predict its actions. We'll need experts. If nothing else, the Offworld Legion may offer some access. And they have a base on Arcadia I think."
"Alright," Tasha says as she falls in beside Gabriel. "Harmonia may allow remote information extraction from their systems, as well, if it comes down to it and she agrees. We'll also want to secure these artifacts in a place that's well protected. I'm a little concerned that if we do manage to solve this riddle, Harmonia will depart to report on it -- which may mean anything stored on her will be brought to the Khattans, which could give them an even greater advantage against the star fairing nations -- something we don't allow here, and shouldn't intergalactically either."
The young woman shakes her head. "I plan to try and stop her, but if she's set on going there's nothing we can do. It won't be good for her if she goes. We should move Balthasar, just in case. I'm thinking of finding an old airship evelope tarp and fitting it to Balthasar's frame to conceal its appearance as we move it and run tests."
"Tests?" Gabriel asks. "Are you sure you should be messing around with that.. uh.. hybrid?"
"The way I see it, it would best to know what it's capable of in case there's something we should be aware of, or we should happen to need it. And, well, in case soemthing should happen and we have to deal with it, we won't be surprised. I'll take it far, far out in the Abaddon's wilderness when I pilot it, don't worry," Tasha promises. She then reaches over and pats her mate's arm. "It's an exciting time, isn't it?"
Logfile from Envoy. (OOC) Log start: d:\logs\fenris\2012-09-20_homeward.htmlOnce it's clear that the revenants aren't following, Tasha and the others are able to collect some more of the armor and weapons from the Dragon Palace temple. Then it's a rapid poling across the swamp to Toth's camp, where they left the wagon and drays. While the lizard-taur begins packing up his belongings, Gabriel brings a tarp to Tasha, saying, "You'll probably want to wrap up the Marker."
"Oh, definitely. Thank you," Tasha replies, taking the tarp and carefully wrapping up the marker before carefully trying to wedge it in to her pack. As she does, she remarks, "We have all three now. All that remains is to return to Abaddon. I admit, I wasn't sure we'd find one of them, let alone all of them. But we shouldn't let our guard down -- if anything, I think this will be the most dangerous time. If anyone has been watching us, now would be the time to strike at us. And if we lose these Markers, we could have a serious problem."
"I'm more concerned with what happens when we get back to the Rake," Aaron comments, as he checks over supplies and weapons for the third or fourth time. "Is there anything in the myths about what happens when two of those things are in close proximity? Or if baking in Forbidden Zones for a few thousand years is critical?"
"Well, only two of them were in Forbidden Zones," Hakeber points out. "The Vartan one was just.. uh.. sat on by an alien god or something.."
"Well, what about them being together though?" Gabriel asks the scholar, getting things back to the original question.
Put on the spot, Hakeber shrinks a bit, omega style. "Uh.. no idea? I figured the Kampfengruppe would be the ones to know the most about that stuff.."
"An extra-dimensional alien god," Tasha correct. She pats her pack, then checks the connections to make sure it's secure. "As for bringing them together, I guess it can't be helped at this point. I'll take the lead on that -- it's my project, so if anything happens it should happen to me. When The Rake arrives, what we can do, is I'll leave this one with the rest of you and you'll move outside the city. Pretend you're having an arguement or something. Make it look like we're doing something else. I'll then fetch the second and flag you."
"Then you'll leave the Marker on the ground and return to the city ASAP. I'll fly to where you left the Marker and then put them in contact," the red woman finishes.
"Mmmmmmm," Gabriel grumbles. "Why the deception? I'm sure Eyeshine would be proud that you were thinking of the ship's safety, after all."
"The deception is in case unsavory types from the city wonder why you're walking off alone. It's to protect you and the Marker," Tasha clarifies, smiling.
"The idea is to risk only one person with as much safety precautions as possible," she adds.
"Except I'll be with you," Gabriel points out.
Tasha gives Gabriel a look. "I know you're worried, but risking the both of us is a unnecessary. Besides, if the Markers were going to kill me, Lord Yama could have done it himself, and earlier," she points out.
"Yes, but if they don't do anything, you still need me to carry the other one back," Gabriel says. "Because you are not going to be flying with both of them. Just in case."
"That seems like a flimsy excuse," Tasha notes, cocking her head to the side in a particuarly avian look of skeptecisim. "Am I to take this as an order, then?"
"If that's what it takes," Gabriel says, standing firm. "And I'll feel better if you were on the ground before we started bringing the artifacts together."
"Did Tasha tell you about the Starfish, the Magic Cheese, the Ugly Statue and the demon?" Aaron asks Hakeber, who just shakes her head.
"Well I did plan to land first. But I can't deny an order, so I'll let the matter drop," Tasha says, though she still eyes her mate and both her ears and tail are up now. "Anyway, we'll worry that late-" Now it's Aaron that gets the look.
"Just wait.. if nothing happens, she'll be stacking the Markers on top of one another, or trying to stick them together or something," the Lapi assures.
"I had hoped Apollyon's sword might provide the answer, and I intend to distribute them for analysis before plotting on how to rearrange them," the half-Vartan insists. She then glances back to Gabriel and asks, "Is it me or does no one have any faith in me today? Or, is it the Forbidden Zone taking effect on us?"
Hakeber says, "I have faith.. well.. Okay maybe I never expected you to find all three of the Markers, and now that you have I find myself a bit obsolete."
"But you've found proof of your ideas, haven't you? You'll have a front row seat to seeing your research bear fruit," Tasha insists as she walks to the wagon. "Right or wrong, in time you'll be able to stand before your peers and reveal the truth of an ancient mystery. Though, you may need to wait a while -- we'd like to keep the details of all this secret until we can understand the fallout."
"My research was incomplete though," Hakeber notes, getting into the wagon. Toth exits his hovel with a few extra spears and a large bundle on his back. "Time to go!" he declares.
"You'll have time to complete it. We don't plan to reveal this information for a while yet. And that's just if the information remaisn the same. If something happens with these artifacts, or, well, if other things come to pass, we'll really need to consider how to reveal what we've been doing. There's the political angle to consider, which could be a major problem, especially with the Silent-Ones," Tasha remarks as she hops in to the driver's seat and begins checking the reigns.
Finally, the small caravan gets underway, with Toth leading the way out of the Beast Lands. After that it's a matter of retracing their original back-roads path to avoid the main lanes of 'commerce' used by the regional warlords. It's slow of course, but several days later they are passing back through the gates of Harrison's Hold.
"The Rake should be returning tomorrow," Gabriel notes, checking the calendar. "We actually made it back ahead of time."
"That's good. I, for one, am looking forward to a bit of R&R before The Rake arrives," Tasha remarks, then stretches her arms and wings out to full. "Nnngh, all this walking and armor is really hard on my wings."
"Speaking of armor," Aaron notes, poking up from the back of the wagon, "we aren't going to try and sell any of this stuff here are we? It's going to the Empire, right?"
"Oh gods no, the last thing we need these people knowing is that we're carrying valuables -- especially valuables of interest to warlords," Tasha confirms as her arms and wings settle. "We'll probably keep as much as we can haul. While we don't have any right now, I hope we'll eventually have Naga JEF members, and tehy'll need protection too."
"Most of this armor is from the cultists though," Hakeber notes. "It looks fancier than the regular stuff though."
"The question now is: do we get lodging, or camp out?" Gabriel asks. They're in the settlement proper now. "We probably should try to sell the wagon and hor-.. Dromodon.. too."
"Religions just love their extravagance," Tasha agrees. "We'll have our engineers remove anything that may suggest an affilition other than JEF. Black armor isn't exactly uncommon with us," she then knocks on her just, making a low, metalic thump, "so the color scheme if fine. As for lodging or camping, we're about as vulnerable either way, leaning towards lodging, so we may as well be comfortable and a bit safer. Aaron, would you mind taking care of those sales?"
"Sure," the Lapi notes. "Is Toth sticking with us for now, or going his own way?"
"As a courtesy for his help, we'll see if The Rake will be making its way to Nagai any time soon after we depart, and pay his way. We should also write him something to carry to the appropriate people, to identify him and extend our courtesy to the relevant scholarly institutions. It never hurts to start building trust early," answers the hybrid.
"That is, unless he'd be interested in joining our group?" The red woman adds, arching a brow and looking to the man.
"When I first laid eyes on you, Tasha, I thought: Yup, there's a girl who knows how to right a good letter," Aaron claims, before ducking back into the wagon.
Toth is still marveling a bit at the 'city' around him, even if it's little more than a frontier outpost. "So many people," he hisses, then happens to glance towards Tasha. "What?"
"Does this sort of thing interest you? Do you want to see more of this world, and many others? Meet new people? Explore ruins, and see how far you can go and learn?" Tasha explains, pointedly ignoring Aaron and his remark.
Toth puffs up his chest, and proudly says, "No! I like treasure and status."
Gabriel cocks an ear towards the back of the wagon, but no follow up remark is forthcoming from the rabbit.
Tasha laughs at that, holding up her hands in apology. "Say no more. Nevermind." She gives the reptile another smile, then settles in behind the reigns. "Letter it is."
There's only one lodge in town, and the innkeeper apparently isn't used to such a large group.. or one that needs so much space, anyway. "How many rooms?" the old tiger Khatta asks.
"One room," Tasha answers, turning to shrug at her party. "It's all we can afford after all."
The tiger looks over the party again, then shrugs and hands over a key. "Second on the left, ground floor."
"Thanks!" Tasha grabs the key, then she's walking down the hall. "We'll sleep in shifts like before. That will allow us to save some money and also appear to be a difficult target, to dissuade thieves and toughs. We'll move everything inside. It'll be crowded, but that's life! Oh, and secure the windows."
Securing the windows is easy, since the only one is little more than a ventilation slit. There's a hay-stuffed mattress, a chamber pot and a small shelf with a bowl and pitcher. "There's barely room for our stuff," Aaron notes. "Dibs on top bunk!"
"There isn't a bunk.." Hakeber notes.
"I know, I mean 'I get to sleep on top of someone else' if we're going in shifts," the Lapi explains.
"Hake and I will be one shift, with you and Aaron the second one, okay Captain?" Tasha asks her mate, ears perked.
"Sure, I can use the bunny as a pillow," Gabriel agrees with a grin. "It may be cramped and smelly and little better than a barn.. but it's indoors and not on wheels and relatively soft."
"Haha, you're all so soft! This is how I lived until I joined the JEF, you know!" Tasha pats Hakeber on the shoulder, consolingly. "We should be okay for a while. Want to go out and see the sights, Hake, and see if we can bring back some food? The roughs won't barge in here too soon."
"Two girls on the town?" Hakeber asks, and grins despite herself. "I bet we can drink for free."
"Keep her out of trouble," Gabriel tells Tasha.
"Oh I bet. It'll be interesting to see the crews -- The Rake never ventured this far off the usual trade routes, so we're probably dealing with mercenaries, pirates, and that sort. Not that I like pirates. Anyway!" Tasha leaves Apollyon's sword with gabriel, and instead takes three of the Naga weapons, securing one to Hakeber's belt until she's happy with how it looks before securing her own.
With that done, she thumbs the exit and grins. "Lets go."
There's only one bar (or tavern, if you're really hungry). Toth is there, and he does buy the women the first round. The tables are of the plank-and-sawhorse variety with benches - easily replaced in case of bar fights probably. The mugs are standard leather ones, and the beer is.. well it's got alcohol in it, certainly. Maybe things just don't brew well at this altitude.
"Ahh, this brings back memories," Tasha remarks before chugging back her drink and wincing. "Lots of memories," she adds after making a face, then she laughs. "How about you Hake? Having fun?"
"We are the only women here and these men look like they eat smaller men for breakfast, and maybe wear the inedible bits as trophies," Hakeber notes with a forced smile.
For the most part, the clientele consists of Khattas and Jupani, with a lone Titanian. None of them have so much as leered in the direction of the women yet. Drinking is more important.
"Not to feel so bad," Toth says. "You cannot help being unattractive," he tells Hakeber consolingly.
Tasha barks a laugh at that, as well. "Like I said, memories! Just don't drink too much and follow my lead, and you'll be find. Besides, they don't look interested in us anyway."
When Toth speaks, Tasha laughs all over again and pats her friend's shoulder. "That sounds like a woe that deserves a drink."
The hunter is not about to treat the girls to a second round though. Maybe if they were showing more leg. Or sets of legs. "I've never paid for a drink in a bar," Hakeber laments. "I'm going to lose my bar tab virginity here, I can tell.."
"Changes comes to us all, whether we like it or not. Embrace the spirit of Abaddon's teaching's and meet conflict with bravery," Tasha remarks, sounding like she might be quoting something. "Besides, the real fun hasn't started yet. I'll get this rounf, though." Lifting her right hand, she waves the proprietor over.
Fresh mugs are brought. "What sort of fun?" Hakeber asks. "We can't get too drunk after all. I'm too anxious to get wasted, I think. Now we have to look into doing the dangerous stuff.."
"Oh, I mean bar fights. With these types it's almost guaranteed. I've always wanted to punch a pirate. Have to be careful though, and do it right -- it'd be different fighting a whole ship. Have to careful of weapons too!" Tasha winks, then props her head on to the table. "How about you Toth? What do you want to see?"
"Dancing girls!" Toth says, waving his mug over his head. "Or a Dromodon with makeup.."
"Are you sure it's safe to fight pirates?" Hakeber asks, looking around. "Have you done it before?"
"I've fought everyone before," Tasha insists, contracdicting herself. Then, she takes another drink. "Ship crews, guard members, city sized bugs, people sized bugs, myself, merchants, tourists, machines, my mother ... "
"Lapi?" Hakeber asks, hugging her mug.
"Well, not many Lapi. They just don't frequent where I used to hang out, and I never did get a chance to pick a fight in Amazonia. As a god, I wasn't really supposed to. Did I ever tell you about my religion?" Tasha asks.
"Not really," the scholar admits. "Does it involve wearing corsets?"
"No, but it does involve your world. I'm a follower of Abaddon, known to the people of Sinai as the war god, god of conflict and strife. My mother-errr, that is, Tisiphone looks like me, and she's one of Abaddon's brood, so they thought I was a god for a while. It's when I really started down this path, but that's old hat -- you've heard that story before," Tasha explains.
Then, Tasha suddenly remarks, "Wait, do you think they think I'm a guy, because of, you know ... " She waggles her hand at her armor-flattened chest.
"If they do, then they must think you're tough since nobody is hitting on me for fear of offending you," Hakeber says diplomatically.
Toth just looks surprised. "You are a girl?" he asks Tasha.
Tasha just sighs. "Well, I may as well make the most of it." And then she picks Hakeber up and puts her in her lap.
"There, now you can't say no one flirted with you, either," she says with a grin.
"Hey, you know I go both ways right," Hakeber says, grinning and raising her mug. "What's our plan, anyway? Are we heading back to the Gateway?"
"Oh I know," Tasha says, winking. "And that's right. No reason to waste money and time. I'd have liked to stop by and give the Temple my regards, but they'll understand if we can't manage it this time around."
"What about getting the Marker's tested?" Hakeber asks. "I mean.. don't you need magicians for that?"
"They predate Sinaian magicians, but lets not talkd about work here, hokay?" Tasha answers.
"But if magic is Sifran.. ah, okay," Hakeber says, and has a swig from her mug. "You realize we need to talk to the Kamp at some point, right? We need to know what they know.. or think they know. I think."
"It is very lonely in the swamp," Toth offers.
"That will be a fun exchange. I half expect we might enter in to a covert war with them, depending on how much they stick to their beliefs. They're as likely to be our enemies as anyone. Still, we can hope for the best." Tasha taps her mug to Hakeber's, then adds, "As for magic, well, who knows? If it comes to that we know who to contact. Incidentally, if I die tomorrow, don't give up, okay?"
"I'm sure if it were dangerous to bring the thingies together, there would have been mention of it," Hakeber notes. "That poem talked about bringing them together, and didn't mention dire consequences."
"Of course, it also mentioned some other circumstances. About knowing what he is and all his kin, part him in three, and knit him as the trinty. The Source thought he might be extradimensional, but he is also us, as we're his children. But I could be wrong," Tasha says, then takes another drink. "We'll know sooner or later. Anyway, this place is kind of dead, so want to bring the boys something to eat?"
"They have food?" Hakeber asks, and sniffs. "Oh.. some kind of meat! Yeah, we have to provide for the weaker sex and all that.. except for Aaron, he won't eat meat."
"We should have stayed in the Zone longer, then maybe he would have learned to!" Tasha gets out one more laugh, then flags the proprietor down again. "Three plates of meat and one of greens, and two flagons of beer. We have places to be!"
"Greens?" the tiger asks, looking confused. "See the Rhian stable-hand for those." He goes to fill the rest of the order.
"Um, guess we'll have to. Oh one more order of meat for the lizard!" Tasha then shrugs to Hakeber and Toth. "Toth, would you mind carrying the food back to our room, while we go find Aaron's dinner?" She pulls out some coins and hands them over. "This should be enough."
"Assuredly," the reptilian says. The stables are not far, since the outpost is small, after all.
Tasha stretches all over again once outside. "I need to get you all wings, all this walking is going to ruin me." She then nods towards the stables. "Well, there we are. Lets get what we came for and head down. I didn't want to mention it inside, but I think I'm too anxious to really relax. I may as well head to bed after this, in anticipation of tomorrow's tests."
"You've got the legs for walking though," Hakeber says.
Nobody is out and about at the stable, but there's a door with light leaking out around the edges.
"I don't mind walking, but I feel like my wings will fall off at this rate." Tasha pauses at the open door, then shrugs and heads inside. "Hello?"
"AAAAGH!" yells the pony Rhian giving himself a spongebath on the other side. "Knock!"
"Whoa," Hakeber can't help but say as she stares.
Tasha just grins. "You ought to close the door if you don't want anyone walking in. Too late now; we need some greens for our lapi friend."
"What? Food?" the man asks, and then covers up a bit from Hakeber's stare. "How much?" he adds, reaching for a towel.
"Just one meal. We don't want the poor guy to starve. We'll pay double for the inconvience and, um, well ..," she waggles a hand at the naked man, grinning even wider. "Just don't try and cheat us."
"We could wash your back," Hakeber offers. The pony just gives her an odd look, as he wraps the towel around himself and heads for the back of the shed.
"Well she could, my mate might take exception -- and ask why I'm not washing his." For her part, tasha decides to give the man some privacy and starts looking elsewhere. "Get a lot of pirates this way?"
"I don't ask," the stable-hand says. "But yes, of course. They sell to the Warlords, or take commissions," he explains, before returning with a.. feedbag. "I'll need the bag back," he notes. "Four Shekels," he says, then looks down and notices Tasha's legs and tail. "Hmmm."
Tasha hands over the shekels, brows raised. "See something interesting?"
"Nice flanks," the man says with a grin, as he struggles to keep the towel in place with one hand, hand over the bag and take the money all at the same time.
Tasha looks down at herself, grinning. "Mom liked her adventures, and I keep busy. I'm probably the first Kar- um, Jupani-Vartan you've ever seen?"
"Don't get many Vartan women out here," the pony claims. "Think I could make a Pegasus? Got a sister?"
Hakeber pouts off to the side.
"Sorry, I'm one-of-a-kind," Tasha answers with a wink. "But I'm glad you could tell the difference, I was beginning to think no one could."
"Well, think of me if you need to be fitted for a saddle while you're here," the pony winks.. then closes the door.
"That is so not fair," Hakeber complains. "I've always wanted a pony, and now there's a world where they talk and take baths and probably wear leather pants and.." She just trails off.
Tasha cackles, patting Hakeber's shoulder. "Some times you win and some times you lose. Rhians aren't uncommon though. I'll help you look next time we're in a port on Sinai."
"Are they all big and stupid though?" Hakeber asks, and then gives Tasha a sly look. "Are they.. too much to handle?"
"Maybe for you, I am half-Vartan." She then holds her hands apart, to indicate certain lengths of the aforementioned anatomy. "And no, they're not dumb. That's just a stereotype, just like with Varatns. We tend to work in the same places, too"
"Okay that might be too much," Hakeber admits as they enter the inn.
"I find you can usually guess based on size and species, and of course there's more you can do than just the usual." Tasha explains as the head down the hall, where she pauses to knock. "It's us!"
The door is opened by a Aaron, who has his ears tied under his chin. Behind him, Gabriel and Toth are singing some sort of shanty. It's not the same shanty, of course, or even the same language.
Tasha stares for a moment, then simply shrugs. "Could be worse! Looks like we have second shift, since the bos will be out in an hour at this rate. Anyway, lets settle in. The sooner I get everything handled and us back on The Rake, the sooner I can relax."
When The Rake arrives and docks, everyone (except Toth) is focused on the Naga Marker, even though the airship is hundreds of yards away from their room. "Anything?" Hakeber asks Tasha. "Hallucinations or weird sounds or cravings?"
"Nothing," Tasha reports. "I'll go get the Marker. Gabriel, would you mind carrying this one outside the city? Toth, could you go with him? Use your mirror to flag me when you feel you're far enough. I'll get Hake on board and warn the Captain."
"I'll.. guard the stuff," Aaron volunteers.
"Thanks Aaron. I'll send some crew down to assist you." Before she leaves, Tasha gives her mate a kiss.
Once away from her party, Tasha takes wing and aims to land on The Rake's deck. "Ahoy down there!"
Eyeshine waits on deck, watching over anchor lines. "Tasha!" he squawks. "Where is everyone else? You eat the bunny?"
After landing, Tasha smiles at her once-captain and father figure. "They're on their way. Could you send a few of the loaders to the inn, we have some artifacts to load up and we'd prefer to keep the locals from being too nosy. Are our things secure?"
"Yeah, nobody touch your weird stuff," Eyeshine says. "How you make out this time?"
"We found another one of the Markers, plus a lot of old armor and crew tags from an ancient Celestial Empire frigate, a space ship. We'll be bringing it all on board, but before we're set to leave, Gabriel and I need to test a pair of artifacts to make sure they ... " Tasha purses her muzzle, head tilting as she thinks on how to word hr concerns. "Well, that there's no dangerous reaction between them. That's why Gabriel and I are taking them outside the city and away from The Rake, in case something should happen."
"What you expect to happen?" the old Vartan asks, his neck feathers puffing out.
Tasha shrugs, holding her hands out. "These artifacts are older the the Expedition, possibly hundreds of thousands of years old -- and that's a conservative estimate. They may well predate the Vartan people. So, to summarize, we just don't know. And that's why we can't risk this ship, the town, or our civilian associates."
"You better not explode," Eyeshine says, pointing a talon right at Tasha's nose. "You feel weird you no go further."
Tasha offers an apologetic, if somewhat sad smile. "Being an explorer means never knowing when you may die, or how. Accepting the risk is something I have to do as part of being a member of the JEF. It won't be the first time I've nearly been killed, either. I wish I could promise I'll be safe, but I can't." She reaches up and pats Eyeshine's pointing hand. "I'm sorry, but I need to get going. Gabriel is waiting."
The big Vartan suddenly pulls Tasha into a hug, but it's brief. "Okay, go get to work," Eyeshine says. "I no raise lazy bird."
Tasha returns the hug, letting her's linger a little longer. It is, after all, one of the few times her father figure has ever hugged her. When she steps back, she's smiling with confidence. "Yes, sir." She salutes, then she rushes in to the hold to fetch the Marker.
Minutes later, Tasha's rushing back on deck with a leather-bound, vaguely geometric package. She heads for the fore, leaning over the rail to look the mirror's flash.
It takes some time before she catches the flash: it's coming from a dry riverbed that runs down the shallower side of the mountain.
"Here we go. I hope Toth is far enough away," Tasha murmurs to herself before stepping on the rail, then off in to the sky.
it's several minutes before Tasha lands, as she aims to land within the riverbed a good ways out. She hits the ground running, making towards the spot Gabriel is waiting at.
The wrapped Marker is resting against a boulder, with Gabriel and Toth to either side. The reptile lowers his mirror once he spots Tasha coming.
When she approaches, Tasha asks, "Toth? You don't want to get clear?" She pauses a good twelve feet away as she waits for the man's answer.
"Huh?" the centaur asks. "Oh, you want me to run?"
"It's up to you. This might be dangerous." Tasha answers.
"More than hunting the dragon?" Toth asks.
"No one knows. I would suggest not touching either artifact. As far as we are aware, I am the only one authorized to access them -- and the 'dragon' made it clear those who shouldn't risk their lives." Tasha explains.
Toth nods, and runs off about a hundred yards.
"Smart man," Tasha says as the lizard runs off. She then grins at her mate, adding, "But smart people stay away from adventure, right? Ready sexy?"
"How do you want to do this?" Gabriel says. "Uncover them both before bringing them closer?"
"I'll uncover this one now," and she does, "and ... here we go. I'm going to move them closer and closer until they touch."
Step by step, Tasha does just that, moving ever closer.
Gabriel uncovers the triangular Nagai Marker, and watches it for any changes. So far.. well, the figures aren't moving at least.
"Hands clear," Tasha warns as she nears, until she's standing right over the artifacs, holding her's roughly four feet above the other, then slowly lowering it.
It isn't clear at first, but as they get closer together.. they look more natural. The 'depth' in them flattens out, and there seems to be less 'motion' even though nothing moves anyway.
"There's a reaction -- deformation in structure, internal motion is reducing. They appear to be flattening." Carefully, Tasha keeps going.
With six inches to go.. the two Markers look like actual stone, with the engravings on the surface instead floating inside somehow.
"This is.. sort of the opposite of what I would have expected," Gabriel notes.
"Surface markings, stone-like texture," Tasha reports, muscles straining as she precisely moves the Markers closer and closer. "It's like they're inverting somehow. Could we be dealing with twisted space? An object with more than four working dimensions?"
"I'd have said 'not likely' before you brought chunks of something like that off a giant flying plate monster," Gabriel notes. "I would have expected the things to look normal until you brought them together. This.. looks like they may be dampening one another somehow?"
"Maybe they're in resonnance, or we're dealing with overlapping fields. They may not be solid objects as we know them at all, but projections of energy or some other, alien substance. I'm going to bring them in contact now. Stand by," Tasha replies.
Taking a deep breath, Tasha leans forward and brings the Markers in contact.
There's a click, and the texture of the one being held feels distinctly stone-like now. There is nothing odd about the Markers now: they look and feel and seem to weigh exactly as carved stone should.
For several seconds, Tasha just stands there, waiting.
"They're supposed to be keys," Gabriel notes. "Keys that must neutralize more of the same material, to make it.. passable? I don't know, but something like that," he suggests.
"I think you have something there. The poem says we must 'know him', and 'part him in three' and that three will 'form a trinity' and the 'Philosopher's Stone.' Stone may be literal in this case." The Vartan reaches down and picks up the second Marker, holding each in the crooks of her arms. "Knowing him ... 'Know him and all his kin,' he's our maker with many faces. We are his kin. Well, I am, partially. Karnors aren't. Parting him in three is three of his kin, his 'blood.' Kniting him as the trinity is bringing them together. Maybe they neutralize each other even more when three are in contact? And we still don't know where they need to be brought, save that it's probably on Arcadia."
"I think Hakeber is right," Gabriel says, sounding unhappy about it. "You need to find someone who knows more about this, even if it means dealing with conflicting objectives. If the Kampfengruppe were founded by humans who came specifically because of the Progenitor cult.."
Tasha walks over and offers Gabriel the Naga Marker, then begins to wrap up her own. "I was afraid you'd say that. You know that revealing what we have could put us in to conflict with them? Possibly even outright hostility if they realize we have enough Markers to potentially approach Adam? You know they don't care for the other species; the JEF itself may offend them as an idea," she points out.
"And we have Apollyon's sword and Harmonia's memory banks. They may reveal something," she adds as she rolls her Marker in its tarp.
The Karnor grins. "See, back in the olden days, we had this thing called espionage for finding things out without exposing what we knew to potential enemies," he notes. "Hakeber has a contact within the Kampfengruppe, to have of learned as much as she has."
Tasha raises her brows. "Are ... you sure about spying? Do we want to go that far, if Hakeber can't get any details? Or if she raises their ire; Hake's in a vulnerable position if they feel she's using them. And they may try to use her in turn. As much as I like her, we can't assume her interests rest entirely with us and it's not right to ask her to manipulate contacts she needs for her own career," she notes.
"Scholars have always been uses as spies, Tasha," Gabriel explains. "Because by their nature, they want to share their secrets with one another and collaborate. I guarantee her contact is another scholar within the Kampfengruppe. They're always the ones who are the most frustrated in authoritarian regimes."
"Good point. I'm afraid I don't have much experience in that area, or, really, in episonage and spywork. As you probably know, I favor the direct route if I can help it." The red woman winks. "But just to be sure, what do we do if we end up in conflict? If Hake is in danger, or if they won't share what we need?"
"I don't know," Gabriel admits, and starts back up the riverbed. "I don't know enough about the group to be able to predict its actions. We'll need experts. If nothing else, the Offworld Legion may offer some access. And they have a base on Arcadia I think."
"Alright," Tasha says as she falls in beside Gabriel. "Harmonia may allow remote information extraction from their systems, as well, if it comes down to it and she agrees. We'll also want to secure these artifacts in a place that's well protected. I'm a little concerned that if we do manage to solve this riddle, Harmonia will depart to report on it -- which may mean anything stored on her will be brought to the Khattans, which could give them an even greater advantage against the star fairing nations -- something we don't allow here, and shouldn't intergalactically either."
The young woman shakes her head. "I plan to try and stop her, but if she's set on going there's nothing we can do. It won't be good for her if she goes. We should move Balthasar, just in case. I'm thinking of finding an old airship evelope tarp and fitting it to Balthasar's frame to conceal its appearance as we move it and run tests."
"Tests?" Gabriel asks. "Are you sure you should be messing around with that.. uh.. hybrid?"
"The way I see it, it would best to know what it's capable of in case there's something we should be aware of, or we should happen to need it. And, well, in case soemthing should happen and we have to deal with it, we won't be surprised. I'll take it far, far out in the Abaddon's wilderness when I pilot it, don't worry," Tasha promises. She then reaches over and pats her mate's arm. "It's an exciting time, isn't it?"