[X] Donate to Anna
[X] Make a pilgrimmage to Owl's Rest to donate to the Gravetender temple there
[X] Hold onto them as is for latter study
Reactions (Cha+Intr) 67 + 27 = 94
It was raining when Ella met her grandmother in person for the first time since the incident. There had been a fire in the region of Owl's Landing recently, so the rain was mixed with the ash and slag picked up, giving it the consistency of thin, bloody mud as it fell from the sky. The pre-Starfall windows were proof against most things short of a direct nuclear explosion and were also treated to be superhyrdophobic, so the material just bounced right off, but it certainly set the mood as Anna gazed out upon the dreary world outside.
"So, as you might have guessed, I'm kind of pissed right now," Anna noted.
"Of course, my Duchess," Ella replied meekly. Swallowing her pride was always a difficult thing, but she was politic enough to know when to be contrite, or at least appear that way.
"Twice in two years you get your mech banged up - legitimate both times, I will admit, but still rather galling - and you had a VIP die under your watch. When you get back you will of course be joining in the hunt for the remaining dragon and whatever spawn it made out of Messermass," Anna said.
"Of course, my Duchess."
Anna was silently for a long moment before she sighed in exasperation. There was an audible chirp and then Ella's muse informed her that local network connections had been disabled and it was currently in a forced read-only mode. That of course caused her to raise an eyebrow as Anna finally turned away from the window, giving her a look of mixed frustrations. Going to her desk, she motioned for Ella to sit with her as she pulled out a number of physical files. Glancing at them, she said, "So, just to make sure you got the not so subtle message, none of what is going to be said here is to leave this room. First of all, you're damn lucky that you brought the dragon corpse with you. Not only are those scales damn useful, but they will make assuring the Indigo Hammer bigwigs that you really did do everything in your power to prevent this outcome. You were fucked from the start, and I'm not just talking about the fact that the dragons got the drop on you."
Tossing a photo over to Ella, Anna leaned back in her chair with an unpleasant frown on her face. Picking it up, Ella found a photograph of some burned out piece of reaver tech, which just caused her eyes to widen in shock and confusion.
"It's a fucking dragon lure," Anna said with disgust. "It sounds out a telepathic signal that attracts the dragons. This was a setup and a hit here kid." Rubbing her forehead, she then said, "Oh, and it gets worse. We checked over the biometric logs your mech took during the fight, and shit gets weirder. Right as the fight with the linnorm concludes your vitals show a subtle but profound crash. Hormone levels and nervous activity all go from an active fight response to one of major mental exhaustion, and all far too quickly. Or, more simply, instead of being fired up enough to want to go out and find Messermass, someone nudged you towards apathy and exhaustion. It's subtle enough that it's not something you really want to disclose, but... yeah. You were almost certainly mindfucked by a reaver. Twice in two years, that's... unpleasant."
Something unpleasant and heavy started to settle in her stomach and Ella could only really feel violated. Last time it had been an almost sort of drunken thing and it was really more of a fight, just another weapon used against her, but this... this was fundamentally being used. Her grandmother looked at her with some concern for a moment before Ella just sort of nodded and said, "I think I'll get through this..."
"Take your time Ella," Anna replied sympathetically. "This, however, means that we have one of two things going on. The first is that we have another mastermind reaver out and about, playing games for shits and giggles. The second is that another faction with a different MO from the usual members we encounter is acting out their own agenda, which involves killing Messermass and not you via dragon attack."
Something flickered across Anna's face there and she said, "Either way, it's bad news for us. About the only 'good' news in all of this is that, while we can't really disclose the whole 'assassinated by reavers in a completely atypical manner' thing, we're not exactly lacking for reasons why someone might want to assassinate Mr. Zinde. He has a complex relationship with the people of Indigo Hammer. He was strongly liked by the common people because he was exactly the sort of larger than life maniac who makes for great network stories, but everyone who ever interacted with him kind of wanted him as far from them as possible. The response from his own family was basically 'Oh, I always knew this was going to happen.'"
Anna's lips actually quirked and she said, "You actually got a sympathy card from his brother shortly after finding out that you were involved with so little warning as to his presence. It's crazy."
Ella frowned and replied, "It's not okay though. A VIP still died on my watch. Okay, there were a lot of factors working against me, but even bad luck isn't an excuse. I've been working to fight against bad luck since I was born."
Anna nodded and said, "Yeah, you're kind of fucked there. Probably going to take a bit of a hit to the tourism department, unfortunately. Still, it could be worse. You could be giving militarily valuable materials to a friendly rival who is more likely to be able to make use of it than you are."
Ella winced at that while Anna just laughed and said, "Well, we wouldn't have those lovely scales if not for you, and Indigo Hammer is only getting one as confirmation that you really were ambushed by a multi-spectral camouflage dragon. Still, a bit annoying."
Nodding at that, Ella then tilted her head and asked, "Actually... does this timeline not make any sense to you? Even with a lure and the dragons already being in the rough region it should have taken a lot longer for those two to be brought into the path Messer was randomly wandering..."
Waving the concern away, Anna said, "It's something of an open secret among the higher ranks that the reaver leadership is bullshit like that. We don't disclose the full extent of their observed powers to prevent a general panic or despair, but this sort of thing is entirely within the bounds of something they could pull off. They very well could have been mentally manipulating Messermass behind the scenes to encourage him into going to Razorleaf Meadows once their trap was ready... and no, don't ask why they just didn't do something more direct, the upper levels seem to get off on ridiculous convolution the way the rank and file get off on pain. The few major leaders we have encountered-" at that Anna's face flashed darkly as those were the sorts who had killed her father and inflicted considerable suffering on her family "-all are the sort to do this. They may also be targeting you in some way, or maybe just Razorleaf Meadows considering they showed up before you arrived."
"That's distinctly not comforting," Ella replied with dry sarcasm.
"I know. Still, I like the fact that despite the fact that you tried your best, you're not actually bringing that up. Sometimes your best isn't good enough, that's no excuse. It is a mitigating factor though," holding up her own cybernetic limbs, she smiled and said, "When your best isn't good enough, you get better. So, with that in mind, I am authorizing the release of some of our special projects for you to field test."
Leaning over to the special file she had, Anna pushed forward three sheets of paper with data and descriptors on them of certain special pieces of experimental hardware. Glancing over them, Ella's eyebrows went up in surprise at what was on display.
Her options...
[] Phylactery muse extension (+10 to willpower checks; doubles other equipment bonuses vs. psychic powers)
[] Pedagogical accelerator muse extension (Improved learning success; doubles age for the purposes of educational trait requirements)
[] Nightmare cube (Guarantees minimum +1 base willpower per year used; greatly improves willpower training; additional side effects when in use)
[] None (these are all experimental and could have significant unexpected drawbacks, refuse for now)
About an hour later after her meeting with Anna, Ella found herself in the Grand Cathedral. The centre of the Gravetender faith, albeit not its heart since that was in the old hospital in Shattersaw where the Gravekeeper's bones lay, it was a large structure made out of a former hotel that had been turned to this grand open space full of structurally superfluous arches and other such architectural touches to make it awe inspiring. It was quiet when she arrived, only a few priests and attendants doing their own little tasks and a few petitioners sitting in quiet contemplation. Ella had decided to make her donation mostly a quiet one. While she took pride in killing a greater linnorm possessing strange abilities, she had still lost someone under her ostensible protection in the process. It didn't feel like a grand victory, but a bitter defeat, and so she had decided to donate the primary trophy to the temple. She had grown up with the Gravetenders being part of her life, but she wasn't really sure about her relationship to it. It was mostly philosophical musings and a community gathering as far as she was concerned, she didn't have the deep connection and faith in the more supernatural elements that had crept in like her grandmother did.
Still, she should probably spend some time here. There were several major points to tour, but eventually someone was going to come find her and talk about her donation, and where that was would probably set the tone. So, where to go first?
Pick your "random encounter" location...
[] Stone Reliquary (final resting place of Dia Stone's stasis chamber)
[] Elder Shrine (where the networked brains of the most devout whose bodies have failed now rest)
[] Skull Garden (a place where the skulls of the departed are displayed with their death poems, guarding the skulls of dragons slain by the faithful)
[] Main Audience Chamber (wait in the main pews of the central room)
