The ancient castle-like hunting lodge is still run-down. Whisper hasn't really been interested in renovating it so far. For this visit, Tasha is armed with Caudimordax, who has been a bit buzzy due to the proximity of three dragons. Gwyndrael, Wormwood and Thermoriax are in their half-dragon forms, since it's much easy to enter buildings that way. Trailing at a distance are Kai and Whisper, who may just be there out of curiosity, although Whisper may be concerned about further damage occurring to her home.
In the great hall, Samael can be seen as a black blobby mass that resembles a sea anemone as much as anything else. The Servitor of the Crawling Chaos is just languidly waving as if they were actually underwater.
Tasha enters first, frowning at the lump of thing that Samael has become. She wonders if that's some sort of natural form, or a side effect or consequence of whatever process he's undergoing. Maybe he's just relaxing? She doesn't know. But it's weird, and the fact he's abandoned even trying to fit may be a cause for concern. She decides to wait and see.
Once inside, Tasha turns to wait for the others, thrusting the sword in to a barren patch of stone and resting both hands atop it in what she'd think was a very appropriate and knightly sort of pose if she could see herself now. As she waits, she remarks, "Interesting choice of body, Sam. Does it mean anything? Do you need to be carted in to the lake?"
The blobby form squeezes down into something more solid, and soon Sam is back to being a male version of Tasha again. "Just filter feeding," the demon claims, and eyes the trio of unfamiliar dragons warily. "Did you.. need anything?" he asks Tasha.
Tasha follows the gaze, then back to Samael. "Anxious? Don't worry, it's not like that." At least Tasha hopes it's not like that, but sometimes she isn't sure. "We're here to discuss a few things, such as my borrowing power from various entities to make up for my mortal deficiency of it, as well as how the spore might be used, which is your area of expertise."
"More familiarity than expertise," Samael claims, focusing back on Tasha instead of the priestess looming behind her. "Have you made any contracts or pacts yet?" he asks her.
"Only with this sword. I slew an earth dragon with it while you were digesting, ate its spirit, so I'm a bit more magically inclined than before." Tasha takes a hand off the sword to hold her palm out, where upon she produces a fireball that floats over her hand for a moment before it sinks back in to her. "I'm a bit fire-aligned, now. I have a fire spirit, so an agreement with that as well, if it's considered the same type of thing."
"More of a source of ability than actual power though, I imagine?" Samael says. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here asking about other sorts of arrangements. Your 'spore' does give you the option of aligning with something like me.. just as it's allowed you to align with Tatha-hem."
"With the obvious dangers, of course. I'd prefer not to indebit myself further to what is often my enemy, and your kind aren't known for the production of happy endings and positive outcomes. To say nothing of the fact Tatha'hem may still serve the Ogdoad and you serve an entity I have a questionable relationship to, given my other allies."
"Oh, those are just the minor risks," Samael says, grinning. "My sort are unmortal, so a pact could cause damage to your soul over time. You can't be eaten but that doesn't mean you can't be altered through other avenues. The opposite happens when mortals form pacts with certain sorts of immortals, in that it damages the immortal instead."
"That sounds a lot like socialization and interaction in general, except specific to the state of souls and essences." Tasha puts her hands back on the sword and looks down at it. "So mortality is as corrosive as your own unmortality is to us? When different states collide, the lesser damages the greater?"
"It's a consequence of interaction, as one side needs to adjust to the other," Samael says. "Look at Galatea. She has spent her entire life associating with mortals. It's like having a favorite pet, but knowing you're going to be burying it in a few years, just with people instead."
"Such things need to done in a purely transactional way," Thermoriax says. "I spread my god's influence, and he grants me the power to do so."
"I had a similar conversation to Gwyndrael, and I think we've had that one as well. I haven't given up on immortality, but it's not like I can just make it happen, either. But that's another question and not why people are here." Tasha looks back at Gwyndrael. "You told me you're used to dealing with mortals?"
"Dealing with them, yes," Gwyndrael says. "But not for extended periods, or in particularly personal relationships."
"Oh." Tasha scratches her chin self-consciously, looking down and frowning at the floor. "And yet everyone's here. It's sobering to think I'm just a flash-in-the pan fad, a quick adventure to save the world, and then it's over for us, this place, everyone together. Hm." She taps her fingers on the sword hilt. "Well. How about this sword?"
"You're assuming we will survive the quest," Gwyndrael notes.
Samael squats down to examine the sword. "It's got a very nasty cannibal dragon in it," the demon claims. "Not demonic though, so it isn't likely to try and take over your body."
"Yes, that is a requirement of being together afterwards." It's not said with any heat, though Tasha clearly intended the fact to be assumed, uncomfortable with the idea. "I'm not rally comfortable with the idea of anyone dying, you know? Not even Sam." She absently pats Samael's head while he's leaning down, then looks to the sword. "Do you know why it's a cannibal? I can hear it's voice sometimes. It really enjoys the suffering of dragons. It's certainly demon-like in disposition. Can you understand why it decided to devour its own kind?
"Some dragons are just like that," Sam suggests as he straightens back up. "When you slew the earth dragon, did you receive a jolt of power from the sword?" he asks.
"No, it was simply pleased with the result. There was nothing else," Tasha answers, tilting her head as she regards the blade. "Given the obvious dangers it presents I've used it sparingly. I'm not sure how useful it is against anything that's not a dragon."
"That depends on whether you form a pact with it," Samael says. "If you do, it will share the energy with you.. so long as you're killing something. Doesn't matter what, so long as it's alive. But while it's useful, it can become addictive. It can even have withdrawal symptoms."
"I see. And of course I already have a fire spirit goading me to set things ablaze and do.. " Tasha's gaze strays to Gwyndrael, "..other things. I imagine the power gained is temporary, right? There's no taking it slow, arriving at steps, graduated gains..?"
"Well, it's there until you use it, but it does come all at once," Samael says. "It will keep you fighting in a battle well past the point your body would give out. It's a bit like being plugged into a vampire."
"I haven't had that experience, but I can see how that would come in handy, for example, against a horde, a foe with overwhelming stamina, or over a long, drawn-out battle. And I seem to kill a lot, so in that sense, to not use it would be, perhaps, wasteful." click click, Tasha's nail taps on the pommel. "It's a power with fewer allied downsides, I'd hate to damage one of our immortals. Many of them are already damaged enough. Galatea's out, then. Kai would probably grant me power well beyond others simply for the entertainment value until Kainudy reigned her in. I know you'd grant me power Sam, but we discussed the downsides of that. Poisoned power, for me. And.. " She looks to the two dragons. "Your thoughts?"
"There are other sorts of creatures and bindings than those you've looked at so far," Wormwood notes. "Many 'varieties' of demons, extra-planar beings, fey and others, including deities. Some of those will grant considerable power to a chosen champion. That being said, I have no idea what the deal is with Kai and how she comes by her power, other than her claiming to have stolen it."
"I'm disinclined to favor vampiric weapon pacts," Thermoriax notes. "It can lead to a habit of solving every problem with murder."
"I do solve a lot of problems with murder. Not all of them, but a lot. Clearly if I were a crazed murderer only some people here would still be here. Kai would probably be thrilled, as would Samael." Tasha taps the sword again. "So. Poisoned power from Samael and his type, including Tatha-hem, vampiric power from the sword, corrosive power from our dragons and immortals. I pay in the first one, then someone else pays in the rest." She looks around a moment. "Which would you all chose? You too, Sam."
"A deal with the highest form of being you can manage," Sam suggests. "Not just servitors and mundane powers, but proper gods. Kai and even Tia know the benefits of that."
"A paladin is not a bad path to follow," Thermoriax agrees.
"Well, don't dismiss 'mundane' powers," Wormwood advises. "There are plenty of fey creatures that will lend their aid for relatively small fees on an as-needed basis."
Gwyn is silent and thoughtful. "I've actually seen what it's like to fight against mortals that have been empowered by powerful immortals," she finally says. "Though their pacts may not have been exactly voluntary. You are bound to run into similar people, whether aligned with dark powers or with technology, so I can't advise you against having the same advantages. I advise thinking out exactly what you want at a minimum, and what you are willing to pay for it, before choosing."
"I hadn't considered gods, it's been a while since I've seen any other than the one I have an agreement with, and he's been quiet. I assume he knows we're moving and that the appointed time will come, whatever comes from that. And it might be bad." Tasha says this like it's an every day thing, and for her it is. She hasn't forgotten about it at all. "Fae spirits.. I do have my fire spirit, but it's more of a 'how' than an energy source as Sam put it. I've not met many fey creatures of real power, they seem flighty and whimsical. I refuse to ask Whisper, she has enough of a burden to deal with. I'm not going to profit off a child in my care."
Tasha pauses to listen to Gwyndrael and nods. "Knowing what each offers and what their price is is a very good start, I agree. It will be easier to chose and evaluate if I can see it all laid out before me. Certainly the universe we'll return to has no small amount of beings with technological -- and rarer, but still present -- magical and godly backing. Sam is just one. I've fought and encountered others as well."
"The safest choice is Galatea," Samael offers. "In terms of available, unrestricted power and the ability to avoid actually harming you or exacting a personal price there isn't any better choice. The issue is more of how willing she is to do it."
"Galatea is very uncomfortable with decision making, especially if someone gets hurt. She seems to go through periods of restraint followed by, well, obliteration impulses. She is attached to an old god of Justice, but I'm not sure which one, and they may not exist anymore. Also my relationship with her is hindered by my interaction with her mother, and the extent to which I went to try and save us both -- namely stabbing her with my concentrated misery so her mother might snap out of her genocidal rampage." Tasha's brows then narrow, in the manner of someone suddenly concentrating very hard. "It occurs to me in hindsight she may have had the power to resolve that situation entirely on her own. I thought she was limited, like Kai, even weaker than Kai. That she needed me. But she didn't need my strength, she needed me to shoulder the burden of decision. She didn't exercise any real power to halt what was happening. If I hadn't been there, maybe she would have just sat there and been obliterated. And then she blamed me, when my choice wasn't perfect."
"It can be a disease of immortals, to be trapped in endless analysis of potential outcomes when their emotions have been worn down," Gwyndrael says. "It also comes from not being able to trust in her decisions, I think. She isolated herself for centuries, and has been thrust back into dealing with people again."
"I can't say I understand fully, but I can at least see how that would be complex." Tasha hefts up the sword and sheathes it, then sits down beside Samael, hands resting on her knee. "I'm not sure how to help her. I doubt what happened to her mother is exactly encouraging her, either. I've met her.. I grandmother? And I received some guidance. Well. She doubts her creators love her, is terrified of her genocidal actions, and is afraid to act. So afraid she might have saved her mother with more effort. And she resents me. There's also her perfect memory, so she can never forget anything, including how much I hurt her. As a choice, she might be the hardest to convince but the safest to turn to."
"Would she agree to help you to prevent you from turning to other sources though?" Wormwood asks. "I'm not sure what to make of her from our limited interactions. Kai does not hide anything, yet is still a mystery. I've no idea what either of them actually are."
"They're both tied to Kainudy, so we aren't likely to get an understanding anytime soon," Gwyndrael notes.
"Kai is a Servitor, akin to myself," Samael says. "More flesh and blood, of course, and at one point she was a normal Human, before meeting Kainudy."
"She must have an approach to gathering power beyond what we've discussed here," Thermoriax concludes.
"They both are. I know more, but maybe it's not my place to reveal their past. But, hmm, Galatea is.. She's a fragment, a lifeboat, of something far larger. Something akin to the Waymakers, the.. the.. Stelrrryhannn." Tasha makes a face. "It's hard to say, alright? It's not a word made for muzzles. Samael's met two, have the rest of you ever met one? They're, well, the Waymakers are gigantic whale-like, god-like beings. They can travel across dimensions, times, world lines, maybe everywhere. There's also the Vril-ya, beings of orange flame inhabiting statue-like constructs. They're sort of the opposite of Samael in terms of their interactions with souls. They're made of something called Vril."
"I've come across mentions of Vril energy in my studies," Wormwood says. "An extra-dimensional fount of creation energy."
"According to Thoth, there is at least one Vril-infused Human still on the loose," Samael notes.
"Really? Very few beings seem to know of them. The 'fount' as you call it is indeed extra-dimensional. It's an entire universe composed of the Vril-energy, and sentient. Probably, god-like. I've met it's representative, Atum. Thoth had been trying to figure out how to generate Vril-energy, but we never figured out how." Tasha pauses, then she suddenly looks to the exit for some reason. "Wait.. Did he have his staff? I don't remember him carrying his staff when we split ways. Wouldn't Kainudy have incarnated it, too? Did he.. Did he leave it behind?"
"You haven't snooped in his room then?" Samael asks. "I assumed he needed it to travel to Kainudy's realm."
"It seemed rude, and I expected he would return. But he hasn't, and last we checked, the battle rages on. There are predictions Kainudy will lose, so perhaps it's time to put privacy invasions aside as we consider our options. I'll go look, and if it's there, I'll return with it. Do you all mind waiting?" Tasha looks to those gathered in askance.
"Here in the castle?" Gwyndrael asks. "Sam has been luring Unnamed here."
"There is a glut of them due to the turmoil in the Unformed," Samael claims. "I was trying to see if I could glean information off of them."
"Oh, do you want to wait outside, then? Or should I wait and hear about this gathering of Unnamed? Or is it Unformed? Is theer a difference?" Tsha agin looks to everyone in askance.
"The Unnamed arise in the Unformed and seek existence," Wormwood explains. "There is usually a barrier to prevent their intrusions on realms like this."
"I used several of them in creating the extras for Tasha," Samael says. "Whisper is indeed blocking intrusions, but this spot is still thin from her own creation."
"Whisper maintains that barrier, as does Kai. I wonder if there's something wrong, or if the.. the waves from the Unformed are causing breaches. Energy spikes." Tasha considers this, but decides it's beyond her ken, so is at a loss. "So what do we do with them, keep gathering information?"
"I have not learned much of use," Samael admits. "We can leave. So long as this keep is left uninhabited they will have no ideas to try and cling to."
"So much for suggesting renovations," Tasha laments, and then she's walking for the exit. "I'll go check his room. Then I'll meet back with everyone."
"We will try not to exorcise Samael behind your back," Thermoriax pledges.
Outside, Kai and Whisper have vanished, but may be somewhere else in the castle now.
"I guess ex-orcise is looming threat to both people who have this body form." Tasha suppresses a grin, and then she's out. Once out she notes the lack of Kai and Whisper, wondering how much they heard, and then she takes flight to head for the Dark Horse.
The Dark Horse is eerily quiet, as everyone - even the cats - have left. Only the Niss would still be on board. Tasha isn't used to uninhabited ships that haven't actually been abandoned (or crashed).
Tasha frowns as she walks through the corridors. It's been a while sine she was last on board, and a lot has happened since then. In many ways she's changed as much in this stay as she has during any other period, making her return to this place feel long in coming even it hasn't been that long in relative time. "Creepy," she remarks as she walks. She feels like tip-toeing, but resists the urge.
Most of the lights and equipment is powered down, save for the bridge area far forward. Thoth's quarters were up on the VIP deck of course.
Tasha hits the elevator, finding the ride up unsettling. She's never been here without the others, so the experience in being alone brings unwanted thoughts, particularly those dredging up her recent conversation about mortality and survival.
The VIP deck is also quiet, but still well lit at least, so she shouldn't run into any ghosts.
Tasha doesn't think there are ghosts, but then again she inherited the ship from a predatory hyperintelligent elder Galactic, and no one knows where they went. She walks quickly to Thoth's room -- because people are waiting for her of course.
It's simple for her to override the privacy seal, and the door opens. There's not giant Naga sleeping within, and the lighting is very dim..
"Hrrm," goes Tasha, who hits the lights and closes the door. She's never had a chance to take a look around here, so she starts near the door and begins searching fro anything unusual.
The bed looks unused, and there is very little in the way of personal items: the only thing on the desk is what looks like a circular piece of polished stone with ragged, nearly melted-looking edges.
Tasha naturally gravitates to the stone, hunching down to peer at it at eye level. "Now what are you. I don't suppose you're the talking kind of half-melted stone? You look like a Sifran artifact."
It isn't crystalline, and there are marble-like patterns though it but the overall colors are brown and brownish-red with streaks of quartz. It's hemispherical, with the flat side being polished. It's about the size of a hand mirror, but the polished side isn't exactly reflective.
"Huh." Tasha leans this way and that to get a better look, like a bird puzzled by its reflection in the water, she tilts her head this way and that. "Is this.. a heart? From a living thing? It looks a little like it has veins." She isn't quite sure what it is. She risks reaching over and touching it, putting her finger to the polished surface.
It feels.. odd. But familiar, like the not-quite-surface of a marker.
"Whose Marker is this though?" Tasha picks up the object, frowning at it. Few Vartans can resist a mysterious shiny thing, and this is a mysterious shiny thing, and she is made from a Vartan part. Remembering old fairy tales, she tries buffing the surface.
A genie does not appear, and the air system aboard Dark Horse doesn't allow for dust to accumulate on thing. It doesn't even generate any static charge from the buffing.
"Well, come on then." Tasha picks up the stone, then makes one last pass to see if she missed anything before she returns to the others.
There are some items of clothing, and what appear to be a spare set of mechanical eyes. Things that belonged to Scholar "Shiftless" are in a metal box in the corner. Presumably anything else was kept inside Shiftless, as the Naga was actually Thoth's Caduceus.
Tasha hadn't expected to find much at all, if anything. Thoth's staff seemed to store it all, but she finds it nice that even he had to put things on a shelf now and then. It does make her wonder just how much the snake could hold, but that's a question for a uncertain later. She tries the box, but opens it with the leg of a chair rather than risk opening it with her hand.
It has a scale-care set, a datapad and some fancy.. scarves? They might be some other form of Naga adornment. Tasha's memory of the Scholar from the Seeder party is not very clear. He seems designed to not make an impression.
Tasha supposes they must be disguise elements, perhaps things Thoth found to be appealing but not worthy of being carried along for an extended period. Temporary measures. Or maybe she's wrong and they're extremely important. She suspects the datapad doesn't have much on it; Thoth wouldn't leave world-shattering secrets on a device they could override.
Still, just to be safe, Tasha picks up the datapad and activates it. Perhaps it has a message.
It's interface is in Celestial, which is an odd language that Tasha isn't very familiar with. There's a diagram though that seems to indicate a tongue-print is needed for access.
"So much for that." Tasha puts the tablet back down and shuts it off. She closes the box, then stands up. After one last look around, and reflecting on how sad an abandoned room can be, she hits the lights and heads out.
"Did you find something?" Tia asks, as she was apparently standing just outside the door. Was she already on the ship?
Tasha barks in alarm, then immediately stands straight, muzzle up. She smooths out her hair. "I might have." After a second she holds up the odd hemisphere. "This."
"What is it?" Tia asks, looking at it curiously while Tasha holds it.
"I.. have no idea." Tasha's ears droop as she looks down at the stone-like object. "It feels like a Marker, though. The not-quite-surface. The strange red-brown color and veins make me think of blood, and it reminds me a little of dragon hearts for some reason. I wonder if it came out of something. Do you have any idea?"
"May I?" Tia asks, holding out her hand for the object.
"Careful. Thoth's staff didn't like being touched, either." Tasha holds out the object and hands it over.
Cupping it so the flat side is facing her, Tia just.. stares at it for a moment. "It appears to be Thoth's research notes on alchemy and Vril," she says.
"Oh. Well, that's handy. We should take it with us, we can carry on his work while he's away." Tasha leans in to peer at the object. "How'd you do that?"
"It's encoded in ultra-violet light in four dimensions," Tia explains as she studies the apparently blank surface. "He has.. other formulae as well. He was delving into demonology."
"I actually knew that. Thoth's been interacting with demons for quite some time. He apparently created several demon-powered Titans and then.. er.. lost them." Tasha thinks that would be a pretty lame lie for Thoth, but maybe there's a reason. Maybe he just didn't respect her enough to create a better lie. or maybe he's bad at lying. "He has a long history with Thotep, too. What do the notes say?"
Tia actually furrows her brow as she studies the stone. "I'm not entirely certain. They are not easy to read here," she says, and then blinks and looks away. "It might be easier in the Tabernacle."
"The what?" Tasha looks up, ears perking.
"The space within Tatha-hem's saddle," Tia explains. "You can access it with Persephone's Marker."
"Oh, right. Well, lets go then. It's been a while." Tasha hits the lights, then begins heading out. "Have you been here the whole time?"
"No," Tia claims, and joins Tasha in the elevator. "I followed you."
"Were you listening?" Tasha watches the numbers tick down, trying not to think too hard about being alone with Tia, in a ghost ship, who may have just heard everything she discussed.
"Outside the door?" Tia asks. "Were you have a discussion in there?"
"Oh. No. Earlier. We were discussing available power sources for me, pacts, and other bargains, the costs, who could offer what and how to go about it and judge it. Your name came up." Tasha pauses. Tasha then takes a deep breath; she turns to Galatea. "You came up, naturally. The safest source of power, without the cost and erosion associated with any others. The second tier option were gods and fey. Then the sword. Then the others, dangerous to them or to me." She tilts her head, musters her courage, and says, "I've been thinking. About what happened with Kainudy. I know you fear to act.. But couldn't you have done so much I could not? Did you really need me there? My ability pales compared to yours, you're beyond everyone here. And yet you needed.. me. I didn't understand why, I assumed wrong, then. But. Did you need me there, to make a decision?"
Tia is silent for a long moment. "I wanted her to fix herself," she then says. "If she could do that, then she could fix me. I don't know how to fix broken souls. I can't fix myself. I should have been begging for her to help me instead of demanding that she do what I could not. I did not think my being in pain would be the key."
"Pain is the only thing she could see in that state," she then adds.
"It shows she still cares about you, at the very least. I doubt she would have paused at anyone else's suffering, maybe not even mine." Tasha scratches her nose, head ducking. "I was hoping she'd remember how important you are and come to her senses. Apparently not. We're lucky he came to our rescue, though I'm not sure he's pleased with me. Maybe, he isn't pleased with either of us."
"Certainty is something I don't really look for anymore," Tia says. "Why do you want power?" she then asks.
"Power means options. It is the capacity to open doors and change the world. Without it, even the best intentions and greatest wisdom are useless. Or should I say, powerless. I have been encountering ever more powerful beings, or increasing numbers of lesser ones, ever since I started this journey. And while I'm not so full of myself anymore to consider myself indispensable to the universe, a chosen savior, I know I am one of a few who have gotten this far -- even the ancients, the Vril-ya, and others failed before they got this far. And I feel that without me, all we've created here will drift apart. And, I don't want to die again. It's not really an experience you forget easily." Tasha hits the pause button on the elevator, stopping it mid-floor. "Are you afraid of what happens when you don't act?"
"I didn't always have access to the power sources that I now possess," Tia says slowly. "But using them reminds me of when I was relatively powerless. When I couldn't save everyone I needed to save, including myself. So I haven't really used it do that. Just survive a little easier. But it also means I can enact Wrath. I've used it to destroy things instead of save things. So I try not to use it at all. So I don't act if it means using it, because I don't like what comes of it."
Tasha tilts her head to the side. "Wrath is some sort of relic from before? Or was it a being? Is that what you mean, when you said you wanted to know if you killed all those people?" Tasha holds out her hands, palms up. "I've had to rely on external powers fro a long time. I try my hardest, but a drover and a bar maid doesn't really stand much of a chance against a forty-foot robot, a skyscraper-long monster, ghosts and phantoms, demons and gods. I use power because I must. And, because I want to. Because I decided I would be the one to do it. I'll also tell you a secret, one created being whose creator holds uncertain love to another: Surpass Kainudy.Do what she could not. Show you have risen above her without malice, then help her. Find a way. It may be your forgiveness she wants too, you know?"
"When I talk of Wrath, it's what I think I am," Tia says. "The daughter of Justice and Necessity. At least, it's something of an identity. I was just supposed to greet people at the door of a castle originally. I wasn't even a barmaid. Forgiveness.. is a hard thing. It requires understanding, and I don't understand Kainudy yet."
"Maybe you can do more with my power than I can," Tia concedes. "I'll think on it. It will require.. some engineering."
"It doesn't require understanding. You think any of us understand each other, completely? You can forgive without reservation, nor requirement. That is only, of course, if you feel they're not necessary. If you need to understand her, then figure out what it is you need to understand and seek that answer. If you don't know what it is, work to find out." Tasha then pauses to listen, then her ears flicker, she blinks, and then she's rubbing her eyes.
"I'm trying to be a person again," Tia claims. "It may take me a bit of time. I'm out of practice." She does give a little laugh after that though, and it sounds genuine.
Tasha lifts her hand and Tia can see Tasha's eyes and hands are wet. "Well, we'll just take it a step at a time, okay? I didn't get where I am in a day, and you don't have to race either. Maybe we can work out everything together."
"First we should see what weird stuff Thoth was up to," Tia says. "For non-weird reasons."
"Oh the reasons always get weird eventually." Tasha punches the button and the elevator reaches the observation deck. The strange crystal-like 'bridle' rests within, suspended in the center of the ship. "You know the Titanians thought this ship may just be the drive unit to some other ship?"
"It's a weapon, though," Tia says. "The Dagger of Eibon. Commissioned by Thotep."
"Yeah, they're probably wrong about it being part of another ship. Maybe that's just what Thotep wanted the ancients to believe. It's hard to imagine they were just.. wiped out, though." Tasha walks towards the Bridge, holding a hand out to Tia. "Alright, I'll draw us inside."
Tia takes the offered hand. "Or they fled," she suggests.
"It wouldn't be beyond them. This Niss were able to do it, after all. Anyway, here we go." Tasha touches the Bridge and concentrates on the key, like she was taught.
The chamber gives way to the odd temple-like structure with the crystal shapes that form Tatha-hem floating near the dome, and odd multi-colored miasma beyond the the supporting columns.
Tia sets the stone device down in the center of the floor, and begins to gesture in ways the bring glowing symbols and diagrams flying out of it and spreading to take up whatever space they can.
"Strange as ever. It really does carry a majestic, awe-inspiring feel though." Tasha looks around while Tia works. Tatha-hem gets a little wave.
The chiming sounds in the air begin to mute as more of the information erupts from Thoth's notebook. Most of the symbols only seem to exist when seen from a certain direction, and others change as they're looked at. It just seems like vast mess.
Tasha certainly has no idea what to make of any of it. Since they give her a bit of a headache to try and make sense of, she instead walks over to stand before Tatha-hem, looking up at her. She remembers Tatha-hem distinctly, and sees she hasn't changed in however long time applies to her. "Do you know what the colored fog is behind the columns? Some sort of dimensional warpage?"
"Probably what it looks like when you swap space and time," Tia guesses, as she sifts through the informational chaff. She finally finds what she's looking for, and tugs on a symbol until it becomes a piece of parchment. From what Tasha can see of it, it reminds of the pages she saw in the Book of Eibon in the vault of the Dragon God of Knowledge.
Tasha comes over to have a closer look. "It kind of looks like a page from the Book of Eibon, which were really just portals in the guise of pages, connecting to specific deities and other beings. Is that what this is?"
"It's a summoning ritual," Tia confirms. "I recognize some of it, and I suspect it has to do with his staff or something the Vril-ya made use of. I saw something similar when I was looking for a way to cross between universes, but came across the dimensional shunt before it became necessary."
"So.. where is it going to, then?" Tasha scratches her muzzle as she looks the parchment over, still not really able to make sense of it. "The last page just crammed its knowledge in to my head."
"The information here is encoded in multiple dimensions," Tia notes. "It's a rather complicated ritual.. but it doesn't need to be."
"I see.. And what does it do?" Tasha peers at the scroll, but mostly show she's engaged. She has enough trouble with scholarly affairs in dimensions in the four dimensions, let alone more.
It hurts to look at, not just because the way the symbols rotate in and out of reality but because they seem to actively mess with her sense of balance.
Tasha breaks off and returns to studying Tatha-hem instead, a hyperdimensional existence that doesn't make her feel about to fall over. "It messes with my head, maybe literally, so that's weird."
"It summons something," Tia explains. "Something that Thoth wanted for his own reasons."
"Oh, that could be a lot of things. He's treated with demons, spirits, and surely a great deal else. He's been around in this universe for quite a while, at least seven thousand years. He's built. He's forgotten. He's been trying to generate Vril." Tasha scratches beside her nose. "Was the ritual complete? Why did you pull that one out of all the contained knowledge?"
"The preparations would have be extensive if this were to be performed in the normal spacetime," she adds. "We can do it from here much more easily, just using orthogonally diagonalized sound."
"Oh, I just thought it would provide the most insight into his work," Tia says. "I'm curious about his demon-powered machines and means of travel."
Tasha is pretty sure Galatea talked about sound, but whatever it was, it's gone now. Sound is involved somehow. "I am as well. As for travel, I know the Vril-ya could 'step between worlds', which I assumed was something like folding space. I know they possessed pyramid-like ships, or ship-like entities. I've spoken to a few of them and share the soul-memories of others."
"Thoth is a hybrid though," Tia points out. "The Vril-ya equivalent of an Ogdru-hem. His resources are limited when it comes to Vril. I'm not clear on if he has a fixed amount, an amount that diminishes with use, or that he recharges over time."
"I seemed that Vril-ya in general don't recover Vril, as many of them seemed to lose it over time. The Markers are the remainder of their being, both parts of them, and records of their existence. Many also return to Atum and join with it, and I presume Atum intends to return to Vril. All Vril-ya are fragments of Atum, and Atum is a fragments of the Vril-universe, an all-encompassing universe of, apparently, pure and unified Vril with a single awareness. Persephone and the other Waymakers have been aware of them since point on their timelines. Atum presently -- however that works -- sits upon the Way. That's where I met them." Tasha pauses to check if she missed something, then adds, "If you even meet Atum, never tell Titanians if he has a tail or not. It's some kind of religious thing and they'll shoot over it."
Tia blinks, and has to ask, "Was there a tail?"
Tasha's expression comes deliberately blank. "I. Know. Nothing."
Then she adds cheerfully, "Vril-ya also inhabit carrier bodies because Vril dissipates in contact with our reality. They are similar to space suits. They can also absorb a being's existential energy -- the soul -- without destroying it, which separates them from demons like Samael, who process it in to a kind of flat and, well, soulless, record."
"Kai has some way of doing it that I haven't tried looking into," Tia notes flatly. It's never clear just how much tolerance Tia has for Kai or Samael.
"I know what it is, but I won't tell you unless you ask, since I'm not sure you want to know. I know I have had quite enough hands-on experience with this topic and I can't always handle it." Tasha stretches, then turns back to face Tia. "Is there more you want to know about the Vril-ya? That's about what I know, and you already know much of the rest I didn't mention, like how Vril seems to break mortals."
"Not not every mortal, apparently," Tia notes. "Supposedly there is still one out there in your universe."
"Oh yes, them. I almost forgot about them. I considered trying to find them, but it seemed both risky to them and a great deal of work for uncertain gains," Tasha admits, hands swaying at her sides. "I thought maybe it was the snake, but no."
"Thoth's luggage?" Tia asks. "This is my first time encountering Ophidians."
"Ophidians? But yes, his luggage. Some sort of sentient object-being. I don't know how it works, nor how he made it. It shows up in a lot of Terran mythology and and Terran, as does his role as one of the Hermes throughout time -- a role he suggested I take." Tasha shrugs her shoulders. "Which I declined."
"Just a term for snakes with arms," Tia says. "From the myths and legends of various worlds and cultures. Was this the role as messenger of the gods or as the ancient patron of alchemy?"
"He's the actual patron of alchemy, and he taught it to Humans. He was going to teach me but, well, you see how many areas of study and power I have available, and few of them are quick and easy to learn and master. Now with Sasha and the others, it may be possible." Tasha looks around, thinking, and then says, "We did pick up alchemy supplies while we were visiting that town recently. Sasha's going to set up a lab." Another pause, then, "So, did you want to summon whatever it was Thoth was going to summon?"
"I could," Tia says. "This place is secure enough, and it may answer some things. I can't see Thoth as resorting to demonic contracts, so I am curious about what his interactions with such beings might be. He was initially hostile to Samael, and had a spell to contain him during the encounter with Charon, correct?"
"They've always butted heads. When Charon appeared Thoth believed he was a danger to Charon and acted to protect Charon from him. The Vril-ya all appear to be very protective of the Waymakers, and many of them see them as some sort of ideal, or something they wish to comprehend. Not exactly Patrons, but something like it. I believe they were one of the first beings Vril encountered when it saw in to other universes and became curious." Tasha looks around, but with more purpose this time. She scoots to Galatea's side, leaving a majority of the floor near -- if it can be called that -- open and clear as she steps back away from the center.
"Before we proceed, my examination of the ritual seems to imply a connection to this space.. the Tabernacle. Which then implies a relationship of sorts to Tatha-hem, and since Tatha-hem was contained by Thotep or one of his agents it could be.. weird. I've seen no evidence that Thoth was aware of it, but he was gone when the Tabernacle was first accessed."
"That's strange almost-circular, which implies either immense coincidence, or some convoluted connection like 'time travel'. Perhaps he'd simply been trying to reach this point or converse with Tatha-hem. He never was very talkative, and even less so about his plans. In that regard he can be more sinister than Samael," Tasha relates. She considers a moment, as before, and says, "We're both here, but that would imply prior knowledge we'd be here. Tatha-hem is also here, but why he'd summon Tatha-hem to Tatha-hem's space I don't know. He could have been trying to extract Tatha-hem -- perhaps to sabotage the vessel -- given its immense destructive capability, even against an existence like a Waymaker or demigod."
"I am not convinced that Thoth knew about Tatha-hem when he used this summoning ritual," Tia says. "He wouldn't have had the means to create a place like this within the Maelstrom. He would have to follow the more esoteric ritual, which does seem in line with alchemy at least."
"We may not know until we can ask him. All we can do it perform the ritual, or not, and save the questions for later." Tasha tilts her head to the side. "I, being an adventurer and explorer quite aside from being a slayer, am very curious indeed."
"I will attempt it then," Tia says, and begins changing back to her statue-like form, and from there to what might be her star-travel form, which seems more armored with glowing spots. Her neck seemed to swell out as well just before she started singing. It was deep, and used at least four overlapping voices. It wasn't too bad at the start anyway, just a bit like the sound of a grinding glacier or something else terribly massive moving against other massive things.
Tasha sits herself down to avoid fidgeting or otherwise getting in the way. She considers also plugging her ears, but Tia did say they were to report for choir training and she didn't think Tia meant to teach them purely mundane singing. Thus Tasha listens, even if it starts to make her ears flick and part of her want to howl, which she can't do anymore, and what she can do is even more alarming and disruptive.
The harmonics of the chamber build, with Tatha-hem resonating as well. It makes Tasha's teeth hurt, but when things suddenly cross the threshold into higher-dimensional sound it feels like her inner ears are trying to twist their way out of her skull!
Tasha has to clamp down on her teeth and hold her tongue to avoid whining under the intense sonic pressure, let alone whatever other pressure there may be. She doesn't want to disrupt the ritual -- she knows that can be disastrous -- so she endures it as best she can, hands over her ears, head ducked, eyes nearly squinted shut.
She can see still a bit of what's happening, because it's in her head.. in a literal sense. The Maelstrom is there, she's in it and it's in her, even inside of her eyes. There shapes starting to form, disjoint spheres and hyper-spheres that might all be the same sphere. But when whatever it is responds, the sound is overwhelming, and Tasha really does feel like she's being crushed from all sides and from the inside outward as well.
Tasha can't even whine now, let alone shout for Tia to stop. She doesn't know if this part of the ritual and if Tia is enduring the same thing, or of something has gone wrong, or some other force in interfering. It's all just a haze, a jumble, sounds and places and the Maelstrom, which shouldn't even be nearby, right there. Outside has become inside, and that outside isn't here yet it is. She feels like she's being beaten between waves and a rocky cliff without knowing if she's her, the cliff, or the waves.
Maybe she's all of it.
At once.
And then she's surrounded in silence. Tasha finds herself lying a plane of black sand, with a few bits of quartz here and there that make it nearly indistinguishable from the black, starlit night above.
Tasha blinks at the sky. This was not supposed to happen, or that's what she would say if she didn't know what was supposed to happen. Part of her fears she's just been thrown to some other reality, some far-flung world in, a distant and unknown universe. Before she can let her fears choke her she sits up with a start and looks around, feels a quartz slide off her hand, then picks that up to look at, too.
It's sand, just like on a beach.. but very black. There's nothing around her, no wind or sound (she doesn't even hear her own breathing). The ground is indistinguishable from the horizon, if there is one. The only thing that isn't sand or herself is a set of silvery bars standing up to look like the swinging part of a tall, arched gate.. just not attached to anything.
Tasha pockets the quartz out of habit; maybe she'll need it to figure out where she is. Samples. Everyone wants samples, and she never gathers anyway. Well, not this time. Not..
Not where ever she is.
After sucking in a deep breath and ignoring that she can't hear it, Tasha gets to her feet. Not seeing anywhere else to go, and suspecting if she started walking towards the horizon that she might never find her way back to here, she approaches the silvery bars, bars that look like a gate. A gate that could lead anywhere, without knowing if it will lead home, away, or somewhere stranger still. She reaches for them, they seem to be her only obvious lead as to why she's here, if meant to be here she even is.
The center bars and joined by a square plate, and in that plate is a keyhole. Tasha also finds herself holding the silver dream-key she received in the Night City.
Oh. Tasha peers at the gate. So I may be in a dream. She vaguely recalls what the Silver Key is used for, something about traveling dreams and a special gate. This, then, might be that gate. She leans in, inserts the key, and turns it in the lock.
She hears the sounds of glass wind-chimes.. and then she finds herself looking up the crystalline form of Tatha-hem from the floor of the Tabernacle. There isn't any crushing, booming sound now. Tia is also back to looking Human, standing over Tasha with a look of curiosity.
Tasha blinks back at Tia. "Something weird happened to me again," she admits in a near deadpan. "Did something weird happen to you?"
"Possibly," Tia replies, and Tasha hears her without any issues. "I spoke with the Maelstrom. What weird thing happened to you?"
"I think I was the Maelstrom. Or it was in me. Everywhere. There were spheres. I think they might have been the same sphere. It answered. Then I was somewhere else." Tasha tries fishing around in her pocket, to see if the quartz came with her. "There was a place of black sand and black quartz. It went on forever. There was a silver gate."
There's no sign of any sand, so it probably was a dream of sorts, since the key and the gate where both there.
"No crystal. It was probably a dream." Tasha holds out her empty hand, showing how very empty it is. "I opened the gate."
"Black sand usually has a volcanic origin, but I doubt that would apply in your case," Tia says. "Did the gate feel dangerous?"
"It had no feeling. It was just there. Locked. And then I opened it with my Silver Key," Tasha answers. She blinks again. She feels like she needs a moment to settle somehow, so she doesn't bother getting up yet.
"And then what happened?" Tia asks.
"This." Tasha lifts a hand and points to herself on the floor. "I woke up." She hesitates, then asks, "Did anything happen out here?"
Tia looks around, then back at Tasha. "I spoke to the Maelstrom and learned some things. And suspect others."
"I got sand and a gate that doesn't seem to have opened anything." Tasha sits up, then stands. "Well, what did you learn? Did anything happen to Tatha-hem? I could feel her resonate." And so Tasha looks to the entity.
"Tatha-hem is an extension of the Maelstrom, but not entirely of it," Tia says. "She's been granted passage, which is why the Dark Horse can navigate through it while other spaceships can only pass through it from a different realm and suffer turbulence or worse. The Maelstrom itself is an aspect or avatar of Yog-Sothoth. And I suspect one of the the entities that my mother is tied to is also an aspect or avatar of the Memetic god of Time and Space."
"I've heard that name before, I think someone suggested I speak with them. I don't remember a gate being associated with them.. More that they are the gate, somehow, as a representation of time and space. Which makes sense to me." Tasha steadies herself, shakes herself out, then turns back to Tia. "So that's how the Dark Horse works. It has permission, and can therefore travel anywhere, even breaking certain laws like the speed of light in our universe. Between that, what it's made out of, and the activation system, it's not hard to figure out how it burns souls out of existence. I'm fairly new at stellar travel, but the gravitational, informational, and other strains would be enormous, perhaps beyond that of singularities." She taps her cheek, then asks, "You don't think the gate was a literal Yog-Sothoth gate-gate, did you? What would it mean that I opened it?"
"It was a dream gate, for which you had a dream key," Tia says, "so I imagine it leads to realms or paths only accessible in dreams, or relates to the Dream Lands."
"Weird. Nothing happened when I opened it, so I'm not sure what that means. I do know some Ogdru-hem communicate through dreams, so maybe that's relevant?" Tasha pauses, then she glances over to Tatha-hem. "And I could always ask her. It might be easier for the three of us to ask her, as she needs to speak through me."
"Has she communicated to you in dreams before?" Tia asks, looking to the figure floating above them.
"No, only when I'm here, directly, and when I touch the Bridle, through my own voice. We have a kind of pact." Tasha walks up to Tatha-hem, looking up at her. "We haven't talked in a while, however."
"Interesting," Tia says, before asking, "What sort of pact, exactly?"
"Tatha-hem made a choice to support me rather than languish chained and alone. She believed it was better than the alternative with her masters gone and.. And something about having lost a past the matters. She doesn't perceive time linearly, however, which makes me wonder what a loss in her past means for her, and what joining me means if she can see the future. It may be she can see it all shifting in to accordance with changes through her existence at any time and place she can see. Or not, which would be even stranger. As for what my pact does, it lets me use this ship, and she responds to me. I didn't dig deeper than that, as the pact was formed even before I met Samael and Thoth, early on." Tasha tilts her head as she looks at the strangely crystalline, spectral entity. "I suppose I should investigate more. It's hard for her to communicate with me; I get the impression she's unused to it, or her manner of thought is far from mine."
"For someone that experiences all of her time in parallel, it could be very difficult to communicate with someone that is living linearly," Tia suggests. "Because she has to find your now, to prevent talking to you instead in your own past or future."
"Although with two-dimensional time that means a superposition of all possible timelines as well," Tia adds, frowning. "I prefer linearity."
"It's certainly hard for me to wrap my mind around. I've thought of asking her to show me what she sees, but that seems dangerous." Tasha thinks for a moment, then nods. "Okay, I'm going to try to talk to her. Maybe she knows what happened. I'm sure she noticed what you did, that seems like a stand-out event."
Tia quietly observes, as it all seems harmless enough.
Tasha gives her full attention to Tatha-hem, and then says, "Tatha-hem, it's me, I'm right here. Will you talk to me? Do you know what just happened here in this place, in my immediate past?"
There's a sense of focus on Tasha, and a tentative acknowledgement, but also some confusion. I know everything that happens here, seems to be the best interpretation of the reply, with the confusion being about why Tasha would even ask that.
"Sorry Tatha-hem, it is difficult for me to understand how you experience your existence. I'll try to avoid using statements that might be confusing, and be as literal and direct as I can manage." Tasha thinks for a moment, then asks, "This replaces my prior question because the previous question was badly framed. This is the first question: Did you experience and participate in the inquiry to the Maelstrom Tia performed and engaged in? Tia is the entity here next to me."
I interact with the Maelstrom, Tatha-hem replies. Whether that refers to this instance or to all instances isn't clear though.
"She says she interacts with the Maelstrom." Tasha then asks, "Do you know what happened to me while I was unconscious in my recent past? During the time when Tia was performing the ritual, and maybe during the result. As my perspective shifted to what might have been a dream world, and as I don't know when it happened, I can't be precise about when it happened. I appeared to be in an infinite dark plane made of black sand and crystal with a silver gate."
Tatha-hem is slow to respond this time, as the question if more complicated. I do not perceive dream. What is dream?
"Dream is a reality beings like me perceive when we are asleep. Sleeping is not a state you seem to experience. There are worlds within the dream, and beings, and other things. Most mortals and other dreaming beings experience some mix of phantoms form their own mind and beings from the dream beyond them. I was in such a place, which I don't think is a place I created intentionally or otherwise. There was a gate. I opened the gate with my Silver Key. Then I woke up. Neither Tia nor I know what opening the gate has done, if anything. We thought you might." Tasha hopes that all makes sense to Tatha-hem. She glances to Tia and shrugs slightly in a 'I hope that works' sort of way.
You did not leave, Tatha-hem states. I do not understand the rest.
"Then we all understand it equally. Thank you answering my questions, Tatha-hem. Unless there is something you want to tell me now, I will stop talking to you now." Tasha looks back, ears up.
Tatha-hem remains silent, so probably doesn't have any questions. She's never been that inquisitive though.
Tasha supposes if you can see so much at once, anything beyond that might a bit too much. But she could also be wrong; Tatha-hem is even harder to comprehend than most of the other Ogdru-hem she has encountered. "She doesn't know. She doesn't seem to experience dreams, either, which is interesting. Some of them do."
"I only used to dream when I had extra brains, so one or two could be asleep at any given time," Tia says. "Back then the Dream Plane was a place you could visit in person as well, and had many strange things in it, from spirits to cities."
"I've been to a dream universe before, a strange place. Thoth took me there, and we passed through a gate guarded by another Thoth. There was a city full of cats where an angel of, I believe, Thotep sung my soul in to the state is is now, hardened. It was very bright. The cats were nice, too." Tasha tilts her head back and forth. "The Dreamlands. Thotep left them to fight Kainudy. The Silver Key allows for transport through dreams, but I don't know what it means to have unlocked a dream-gate here and now, especially after what you did. It suggests Yog-Sothoth or the Maelstrom triggered it, or some relationship to what I saw and felt inside and out. My last memory was in the Maelstrom answering -- do you think it answered us both?"
"I was the only one talking to it," Tia notes. "However it may have just been the exposure to it triggering your dream state."
"Weird. I suppose I'll know what it means in due time, if it meant anything at all. Well." Tasha looks around a moment, "I guess we're done here? The others are waiting for me to return."
"Oh, we should return then," Tia agrees, and picks up Thoth's journal. "I will need your body for a day," she then casually remarks. "Soon."
"Normally people say romatic or lewd things to me before making such a request," Tasha notes, head dipping, hand to her muzzle, shy bat of the lashes, ears back and tail wagging slowly.
"Do I have to?" Tia asks, head tilted slightly.
"It depends on what you want my body for," Tasha answers, head tilting the opposite way Tia's does.
"I need to work on some things," Tia claims. "Specifically your ansible and nervous system."
"Nothing scary and ominous then," Tasha says with a slow nod. "I suppose this has do do with sharing power? or have I been too nervous lately? I was very nervous when I ended up in a featureless expanse. I thought I'd been sucked to the location of the Ogdoad's prison at one point."
"It sounds like a very meditative environment," Tia notes. "Do I seem scary and ominous?" she then asks.
"Sometimes. But most of us do, now and then. We're not really of a kind, nor in the business of, providing serenity and relief. As a whole, we're a rather ominous, unpredictable, and ineffable collection of entities. It's also why we get along with each other." Tasha drops her cutsey girlfriend pose and spreads her hands. "It's the same with me. They know what I can do and have done, that I'm the local scarfer of the supernatural buffet. I wouldn't be surprised if the mercenaries thought I was a demon too, like Sam. But people are very judgmental and I don't enjoy that, so maybe you shouldn't either. A little, but not too much."
"I don't think I would find much enjoyment in being feared," Tia claims. "My own fear of myself should be enough."
"It has its uses, but it can be isolating if over used. And if you don't enjoy it as a emotion." Tasha snatches Tia's hand, then says, "Okay, here we go, time to get out of here. Please keep you existence beside the Tasha at all times or you may have your space and time inverted."