Green Flame Rising (Exalted vs Dresden Files)

[DragonParadox]

Pivot and Reflex ​

25st of February 2007 A.D.

"It would be the work of a lifetime, a Wizard's lifetime, to develop the necessary skills to even hope to reproduce the Book." Holding up the time for all to see, most with their eyes, the brave with Sight beyond you're not entirely sure if that's true, on the matter of wizards the very oldest of the memories are silent and Usum has more guesswork than certainty, but one thing you can be sure of: having been given a challenge the wizards of the White Council will try. "By all means, I encourage you to find and help train such a Wizard, if they are willing to devote themselves to the task.

"I hold that this is a challenge beyond the usual scope of the Council's artifice and of gravest import does any content the point?" Cristos asks, his voice carrying far with the power of an orator trained. After a moment's silence he adds: "Let it be consigned."

You are surprised to see Donald Morgan of all people standing at the Merlin's right hand quill in hand as he does the work that had once been Peabody's. This will not be a long term posting, the sour look on his face communicates.

"I further hold that the usual means of portioning such a task is beyond voluntary assignment, such secrets should only by those the council at large agree are trusted." he adds to growing rumbles and one or two knowing looks from the Senior Council. McCoy in particular seems restive, which given what you had seen of the man in battle should worry the younger wizard, though he seems blithely unconcerned.

Even though there is no pause and certainly no writing Cristos continues: "By ancient precedent the council may not assign a task to any but those who voluntarily take on the Warden's cloak. Alas that the most skilled enchanter among the Wardens had proven too sore wounded from her battle against the Capricorpus..." Had the White Council given her name in Latin you wonder idly as the political play comes into view, no concern of yours.

At least you didn't think it was a concern of yours until you noticed Harry looks angry too and he's considerably worse at keeping it off his face than his grandfather.

"What...?"

"That son of... gun is going to use this to take Luccio's job and give it to one of his 'friends.' He's forgetting I'm here as well and I'm the best positioned to do it."

Watching Harry wind himself up to rush to the rescue from the outside is kind of cute, but also... Warden Captain Luccio did try kill the Merlin while under the control of a warlock, being partially responsible for why the protections of the Halls were in such disarray as she dragged even some Wardens who were not under magical control away from their posts.

Harry is about to look like an ass lording his new status over other wizards to force a decision. At best it looks like a clumsy way to pay back patronage, though wizards being human there's little doubt in your mind that more outre and sinister explanations will show up as time goes on.

What do you do?

[] Try to stop Harry from forcing the issue

[] Stay silent, this might not be the position to take a stand on, but it's about time the rest of the Council came to understand Harry's influence after all the times they yanked his chain

[] Write in

OOC: A bit short, but this is the first time you guys got to use that dot of politics you got last level (will update the sheet soon) so I figured you should get a vote.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Leverage and Patience ​

25st of February 2007 A.D.

"Harry," you toss him warning look then mime 'I'll handle it'. How well wizards can read lips you can't say, but odds are good not many of them are looking your way, not when Cristos had so thoroughly thrown the cat among the pigeons. As wizard after wizard from nations far and wise rise to their feet to speak for or against the proposal a pattern starts to emerge. First someone from Africa or south Asia will speak up about how the Wardens ignored their problems in favor of grand strategy which lead to being blindsided by the traitors whose hand could now be seen in a variety of local problems.

"When the Great Reservoir at Musawwarat-es-Sufra was tainted arrived late and with little beyond an apprentice's understanding of the celestial implications or the earthly concerns of the region. It was we who had to keep them safe from more. What use are more hands when they know nothing but how to clench into a fist..."

"The bank-run in Lusaka did you think I lied or was a fool when I said it was incited by magic? It was only though great good fortune the rain came..."

"You see, monsoon was directed to do more than cause suffering, it was meant to flood the city and bring pestilence to gain the favor of unclean spirits. If the Wardens had done more than just 'deal' with the vampires they found maybe they could have found the culprit..."

Then they will get support from their neighbors in both seating and geography as well as sympathy from more senior wizards before some warden finally has enough and tries to tell their side of the story. Rightly or wrongly most of them come off as smug or dismissive only for Aleron LaFortier, to calm spirits, often by taking on a measure of the blame for himself the rest of the Senior Council. There's little doubt in your mind the grievances are real, but the way they're spaced out and presented makes you suspect they had been planned ahead of time. For many this probably looks like the best chance to push forward their agenda in the council, to get back some of the safety line then had against local threats before the war started. Your adventures in the jungle is quickly becomes clear, had not escaped scrutiny and now a significant part of the Council is under the impression that the Red Court had been dealt the heavier blow.

In a very real sense this is hardly about Warden Luccio at all, more about what she represents, an old respected wizard often in the Halls with a great many allies here, losing her body and much of her power, but still retaining her captaincy of the Wardens, now fit to keep her seat even longer as the ancient spirit infused a new body. No one quite comes out to say 'falling forward', certainly not Cristos, but it hangs in the air heavy with unspoken recriminations.

But a storm of words, just like one of wind and rain, must have its breaks and one of those you interject yourself into.

"Honored wizards before all else consider that there is at present one wizard who posesses the keenness of magic to even begin this journey and he has never taught another tha skill. The way Harry learned it one should not wish upon one's worst enemy."

The words are sobering as you had hoped, an oblique reminder of the fact that they are still in a war and against more than the Red Court. Carefully, subtely you ask about the state of the worlds on both sides of the veil, of the battles they fought and the foes they faced. It is fascinating in places, worrying in others, especially Martha Liberty's mention of fighting Nazis backed up by Mistfiends and enchanted iron, they certainly hadn't gotten the latter from faerie which is closest to the material world, but most importantly it allows people a chance to cool off and reconsider if now is really the best time to make a stand with the unity of the council so sore tested.

You look up at the Merlin, something tells you he knows what you're doing, he's been very economical with his words allowing question after question. Though lacking the telepathy of your other selves you're sure he got the message: 'This was a delay not a solution, you've got to give them something.'

So it is you witness the first warlocks approach the book, power sweeping all around like water in the crushing depths then as they lay quill to enchanted paper at once bound and set free.

Behind you Harry sighs. "Looks like we really did good."

"Did you doubt it?" you challenge?

"Easy to convince yourself you're doing good when there's something to fight in front of you. The real challenge is making something better."

"I'm gonna guess you didn't steal that one from Yoda, sounds too much like English," you joke, glad to see his expression lighten not just from the worries of the meeting, but older troubles that a young Harry Dresden likely never thought he'd overcome. These men and women will get ta fairer shake than he did under the Doom and better by far than most Lawbreakers.

And I didn't even make any wizard enemies today, you think to yourself then imagine telling Mom that when you get home. Thankfully you had learned not to say stuff like that when you were in second grade. It would be funny for thirty seconds and frustrating for the rest of the day

For the lest three days of the month Molly is going to be spending more time with family. What do you wish to do?

[] Help Dad with tools and ideas

[] Leech is trying to figure out the best way to champion anti-bullying in her school. She has reluctantly struck out 'punch them in the face'

[] Take Hank to the part, it's been a while since you spent time with your littlest brother

[] Write in

OOC: For anyone wondering the reason I did not keep track of Essence in this scene is because it would have been very hard to run yourselves out in this scene.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Improbable Truths ​

26st of February 2007 A.D.

Mom and Dad are a little surprised when you offer to watch Hank for the whole weekend, or to be more exact they are surprised at which you it is. Pursuer of Diligent Scholarship had been doing more than going to school and handling homework. She's been going out with Alec and Izzy, getting home on time helping the jawas with their homework and watching the new Disney movie... which is apparently about accepting death with grace. Some days it's easier than others to accept that Queen Mab has a hand in faerie tales.

Thankfully today doesn't involve anything quite so emotionally fraught. Hank just really wants to visit the Lincon Park Zoo and see the turtles, the camels the chimps and the flamingos, it's a very specific list as only a toddler could make it. He's a little mopey that Mom can't take him since she'd been the one who'd promised to take him after he'd been brave at the doctor's office last week for his check up, but that quickly falls by the wayside at the prospect of a ride in a new car.

"Woah... how fast does it go?"

You point him at the speed gouge and let him sound out the numbers while assuring Black Rider that Sarah will take him for a wash after this to make up for the grubby hands and feet and... really every part. If you didn't know any better you'd suspect your little brother of the very particular magical power of being able to manifest dirt where none had been before.

Deciding to take things alphabetically you head to the camel enclosure first and these are big Bactrian Camels eying the overcast sky with disdain only something that should live in the desert can. Though camel facts are not your forte you did have the presence of mind to scag a guide along with the tickets to read factoids off of.

"...Aladdin did use camels though not these ones, those would have been Sahara camels with one hump."

"Not if you take the original story at its word," a familiar figure pushes its way though the crowd. Sarah and three.. no make that four of the younger Jade Dogs. You almost didn't recognize them between the baggy clothes and large caps. A precaution against being forced to change in public, you know, but now's not the time for worry. Sarah's still chatting away happily to your little brother. "Aladdin's meant to take place in China and the closest desert to China would be the Gobi where those guys come from."

"Wait, isn't that where Mulan is from?" Hank asks suspiciously, like he's sure someone's trying to pull a fast one on him.

"That too, history's really, really long and the stories we tell about it even longer than that," the girl who's a ghoul explains, more right than words can tell.

The idea that there are other versions of the stories he's familiar with than the ones he knows and they are all 'right' holds Hank's attention all the way to the flamingos.

"You know they get that way by eating the stuff in carrots," you offer cheekily.

"Do not! You made that up, didn't you?" He grumbles. "Carrots are orange."

All in all its a fun and educational day, if a little loud. He's a Carpenter after all and if there's one thing all of you have it's strong convictions.

As the turn comes to an end what is Molly considering for next month?

[] Write in suggestions for next turn actions

OOC: Rather than frantically editing the turn vote after it's put up this feels like a more elegant solution. Hope you guys liked the visit to the zoo.

 

[DragonParadox]

Of Ghosts and Gods ​

26st of February 2007 A.D.

Two weeks ago or just about Sophia had informed you that anti-Bob had been running around Government servers with an undead antenna before someone or something pulled him out when he tried to tango with IRIS. In the meantime you had eliminated one plot and thwarted another, if one is to count Thorned Namshiel and thankfully the Library of Congress had also been working overtime exorcising the remains, literally they had called in a Catholic priest to make sure the spirit stayed out, and figure out how the, potentially literal, hell it got in there as well as what it was doing. The former question unfortunately hit a dead end, thankfully not the kind that involved dead diviners, but their analysts had a lot more luck piecing together a motive from the files they had on hand. A very grave sounding agent 'Leo' who is probably going to need all the courage of his namesake explains that the files they extracted painted a picture of Monoc's involvement in black market arms trade, connection to various 'unfriendly powers' and even the illegal antiquity trade.

'The entity', as he puts it, had been attempting to get Gard tangled in a murder at the ward line as a means of tracing Mococ's extracton procedures. The Library assumes it was attempting to provoke a reaction from one of the company's other patrons abroad, theorizing that the NSAs were not the only systems breached, but instead part of a wider attempt to manufacture an international incident.

"Hypothetically if that was what he was attempting what's the worst case scenario?"

"Monoc gets painted as a Russain of Chinese asses that insinuated itself into contracts with DoD that gave it access to secret briefings and plans. If this ends up in Senate Comitees. It's not just that there are still people on the Homeland Security Comitee who shouldn't know about magic there's a senior figure who's a... believing man."

"And Donar Vadderung is Odin," you interupt, bluntly. "Which is I imagine a good part of the reason why it's not a good idea to poke the bear, but that would be hard to explain and harder to prove."

"Were there any other people in those files, ones not involved with Monoc?"

"Some seemingly not involved, but that would be just us not having all the pieces. We do not at this time believe that the information was meant to be used outside the US informational space, we are treating this as an attempt at damaging an important magical asset while also entangling the gouvernment in a ghost hunt at a time when we should be paying attention to what's going on in Latin America or even just in Vegas. Bloody leeches. Sorry ma'm."

"And the vampire, any idea how that got in there?"

You can hear the grimace on the other side of the phone. "Contractors, didn't remember a thing about the corpse, when we tracked them down. It was a very neat job, nothing short of a wizard's Sight was able to percieve the traces."

What do you do?

[] Ask to see the servess yourself

[] Go look at the contractors

[] Ask a Crown Question with Iris as the focus, she was the one to chase anti-Bob all the way out of the system

[] Write in

OOC: Sorry this is so late, elections are tomorrow and I'm distracted. Once this is over things should be back to some semblance of normal one way or another. Rolls hidden for now.

 

[DragonParadox]

That Bone Might Whisper ​

26st of February 2007 A.D.

"Do you still have the body?" you ask quietly. "I think I can get something out of it."

"It's... inanimate," the agent sounds off carefully. Well duh, you don't keep a Black Court vampire around even a fledgling, certainly not one that has the eye of something worse. I wonder if they think I'm some kind of necromancer? you think caught between amusement and concerned. Aloud you say: "That's alright, I don't even need all of it."

"We'll send a package."

That is how you end up meeting a very serious looking lady in an unmarked car in back in a Wendy's parking lot not two hours later. She hands you a phone with Leo on the other side. Part of you is disappointment that you didn't use a code words or something, but this does makes more sense. Still it's a little surreal that package in question comes wrapped in brown paper, a human leg bone cleaned of flesh during some kind of autopsy or maybe a dissection. It wasn't exactly human when the Library got to it after all, though you do hope they gave the rest of this poor person a proper burial.

For effect you close your eyes, feigning a light trance. "What are the plans of the those that benefited from this corpse being used to infiltrate government system"

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 17/18

Blue is the ocean and blue and white the ship upon it, save for the towers and the cranes and nets that sift though sands like fingers, seeking a treasure brighter and older than the stars above:"To deny the Father of Victories the prize the Kingfisher seeks in in icy northern waters, to claim it in their turn."

There's no need to feign the start as you wake from your trance. What did you find Old Man, what do you seek? And why do They know you seek it?

The agent who had delivered the bone, they must have flown it in you realize, holds on the the air of cool professionalism that the Library seems to hand out with the white socks pressed pants and polished shoes. "Pass on any information you may have by the usual channels, it is best that we do not spread certain information around."

"Thank you agent..." you trail off realizing you did not have her name. It kind of feels like when someone hands you a human bone you should be on at least a first name basis.

"Hale." She doesn't agree

Either way you part with a smile and turn back to the phone, asking for access to the server this time. Unfortunately this is where things get complicated.

"The servers were situated in Fort George Mead in Marryland at NSA headquarters, physical access to them requires security clearance that you do not posess Ms Carpenter." He stops for a moment to think than explains his boss will call you back.

That is when you get back to Von Trier who is a good bit less tentative about the whole thing. "I can either make up a paper trail that says you are some sort of young computational expert... ah, programmer, still don't like that word, or I can just tell you where the servers are. If you take the latter option I cannot guarantee extraction, but I do not imagine that will be much of a problem."

On the one hand you appreciate the trust, on the other hand you're not sure how much of it you can reciprocate, how much to tell them about Monoc's interest in 'antiquities'? Do I trust the Library not just with magic but with old magic? For all they sometimes do things their own way to keep politicians from overturning the proverbial apple cart they still answer to the government.

How do you visit the NSA?

[] Go openly

[] Sneak in

How much do you tell Von Trier of what you learned

[] Nothing, obfuscate (Manipulation Subterfuge, Opposed)

[] Tell them their guess was wrong, the entity wasn't trying to cause a diplomatic incident, it was wroking against Monoc Securities who are themselves seeking an ancient magical treasure. Where poking Gard comes in you are not yet sure

[] Write in

OOC: No rolls for this one yet.

 

[DragonParadox]

Charting Spirits, Seeking Stars ​

26st of February 2007 A.D.

At the end of the day Von Trier has more than earned some truths here, just maybe not all of it and a weapon on the scale the fey courts take note of. "You guys were a little off the mark. Whomever infiltrated government systems aimed to sabotage Odin through Monoc Securities to disrupt his operations. He's after something that they want but what that is exactly I cannot say. As for the servers, I believe it would be less of a hassle if I went openly under a false guise."

"His operations being...?" The elderly mage, wizard really, you recognize the tone of authority hones over the centuries as much as any elder member of the White Council, asks.

"Not to be found in a stray bone of one of his enemies," you answer, tartly with a hint of humor, sometimes the briefest lies are best.

She sighs. "Of course it wouldn't be that easy, keep me posted if you find something of interest to national security... again."

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 16/18 (Excellency)

The emphasis on that final word has you snort a laugh into the phone tumbling into a bit of guilt at what you're not saying. Not enough to forget who she answers too though.

Arrangements are quickly made your new identity: Deborah Dvorak, a thirty something with tightly braided hair and an inclination to long sweeping coats trimmed with fake fur, 'she' couldn't be more different from Molly Carpenter in manner or dress and a veil is a common enough skill that it shouldn't trouble the Library to know you can do it. Now if they knew just how hard it's to pierce...

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 15/18 (BMI)

No sense borrowing trouble, you think two hours later as you slide out of the somewhat ironically named 'Peace River' that flows so close to the nerve center of the greatest military superpower in the world. The agent with your credentials is right where he's supposed to be.

"Ms Dvorak?" It's not really a question.

"Nice," Truth be told you are impressed at the quality of the documents going off a selfie Clippy had send them.

"I'll do the talking ma'am, unless there's something specific you need to do to the servers..." What you had taken more polite reservation on the part of the agent turns out to be weariness, confusion and... curiosity. This isn't someone who works for the Library, you realize.

"Please not ma'am," you raise a hand as though to ward off the unwelcome happening. "That makes me sound like my mother. Deborah will do, it's... accurate enough here and now. I just need a few minutes of access."

There's a kind of weight to the silence and the dust, the twinkling LEDs, like Christmas lights shorn from their trees and cast in bureaucratic drudgery. But more than anything there are a lot of people around, for the size of the rooms it always feels like there's twenty percent more than is comfortable and all of them are curious. I guess you would have to be that way to work here.

Spoiler: Server

"What other locations have been infiltrated by the party responsible for the compromising of these severs," you think... and see more servers, knowing instinctively they are rooms like this one, for all they are smaller and more cramped and in one case have a bit of mold growing on the walls.

French, British and Russian Intelligence. The names come at you in their native languages yet perfectly understandable. That is either Anti-Bob having a specific purpose, or holding a grudge from the War.

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 14/18 (Crown Question)

Thanking the your hosts you quickly take your leave and return by way of water to Chicago before checking in with Clippy who had found the Kingfisher of your last answer, a Norwegian research ship, blue and white as it said and ask: What prize older and brighter than the stars above does does this vessel seek at her patron's call

Through your mind's eye a 'hairy star passes', from east to west overcoming the setting sun in its brightness. It jolts a memory of the note that Lilly passed you six months ago, the treasure of the doomed Prince Trucc. Checking back on the contents... 'the fields of men turned fallow and where it wept there was hail and famine and where is fell calamity'

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 13/18 (Crown Question)
Regained 2 Essence (Urge of the Forbidden) -> Now at 15/18

"OK, I'm on a roll here..." you say, encouraging yourself. For once Usum isn't around to cheer you up, doing something for Regina maybe. You pull out your last conversation with Odin and try to use the fact he's looking for the thing to find its location.

The the eyes do not open, the power doesn't burn, not a close enough connection. You are either going to have to find the ship wherever she's sailing or point your crown at the Donnar himself.

What do you do next?

[] Inform the Library that a bunch of intelligence agencies have a malicious spirit in their system

[] Ask Odin what he's looking for

[] Look for the Kingfisher, there should be public data about her course

[] Write in

OOC: I had Molly think about the last question IC because that was a reasonable thing for her to do, try to push the crown, but no luck, too many degrees of separation Recording->Odin-> The treasure-> It's location

 

[DragonParadox]

Swimming in Strange Waters ​

26st of February 2007 A.D.

"You asked to call if I find something pertinent to national security. Would allied national security count? Allied as in 'someone might not consider World War Two ended' allied," you say into the phone, a little bit of levity to alleviate the foul news, even as you keep moving towards your next destination, the waters already in sight.

There's a sort of sharp tick on the other side it takes you a moment to realize it's the sound of a phone hitting a hard surface. Apparently Von Trier invests in resilient technology since the connection is none the worse for hitting a wall, a table or whatever she had to hand. "One ov those...I zee," her accent grows a thicker too and you can easily imagine her eyes flashing in anger. "Vhat do you know? Name, nature, can be be called and bound in a circle?"

Right... that would be what she'd ask, knowing it's a spirit, if one in league with the Black Court. The honest answer would be yes, one can call Bob by his name and bind him in place, so one might do the same for his other self, the one that isn't Bob, but instead Kemmler's helper, but how to explain all that without leaving any trails that lead back to Harry?

That's when it hits you...the Corpsetaker Gorfel, both too dead to contradict you did face both, even integrated the latter. He could easily have let slip about something.

"It is a spirit of the air, a keeper of tainted lore, legacy of the necromancer Kemmler. It is still in contact with some of his would be heirs, though I had hoped that was the worst of it. Given how it escaped I fear there might be a power at play with a far longer arm." You go on to describe the basics of how spirits of knowledge function, of which she knows but listens to politely as well as speculating on how black magic might have changed and empowered him to which she listens to more closely, but still closes out with a weary sigh.

"Thank you Miss Carpenter, if you need anything else or find anything elese do not hesitate to call."

"I won't," you answer honestly

Now to find that ship...

Essence Restored to Full by Sunrise

***​

27st of February 2007 A.D.

Breaking into the building of the Port Authority in a sleepy Norwegian town isn't how you imagined a trip to Europe would go, but this is where records of the Kingfisher are so you walk in past the night watchman who's too polite to notice and past the cameras that already belong to you to find the actual physical ledger. Good thing you're planning to use your Crown for this one, the smudged ink on its pages could be a recipe for the mutton and cabbage stew which Lydia had very gravely informed you is the Norwegian national food when you explained where you were going. You're still not sure if shes's pulling your leg, but you don't intend to stick around long enough for lunch.

Where is the Kingfisher.

Almost mechanically your Crown spits out a set of coordinates off Island, yep just where Lilly said it would be. Just to be on the safe side you get some binoculars from Sanctuary and manifest a good ten miles from the coordinates, land miles that is. You know they are different at sea, but you aren't sure how.

Lost 2 Essence (ATP and Question) -> Now at 16/18

Looking towards the large ship, it's eyes over the water, its voice below the waves casting about for echoes you have to admit you're pretty impressed by the scope of Monoc's operation. Sure you could match it, but only if you didn't mind setting off a UFO scare. Just imagining a Seeker Ship armed with rail guns to see off raiders and a prow ram meant to deal with shirkers, saw-beaks and other leviathans on earth's oceans makes you smile.

Spoiler: Kingfisher

"Where is the thing they seek?" you ask again, a question into the ether cast.

Without sight you see deeper and deeper, where the stone is black crumbling to depths unheard and rushing sharply in spines obsidian. Wait that's not... An eye half open dull molten red looks up towards the surface, just as the memory of the poem comes back to you transformed:

'In the belly of the dragon, in the keeping of its kin.'

Maybe those leviathan-proof boats wouldn't be the worst idea.

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 15/18 (Question)
Regained 2 Essence -> Now at 17/18 (Urge of the Forbidden)

What do you do next?

[] Swim up to the ship, ask them if they know they are liable to poke a literal dragon and if they have a plan for that

[] Call Donar Vadderung, you can speak more frankly with him, though you will also have to watch your words more

[] Write in

OOC: Enjoy.

 

[DragonParadox]

What Sleeps under Nameless Peaks ​

26st of February 2007 A.D.

"Mom," you call through he headphones and water-proof mike you have been careful enough to bring out to this swim. "Turns out I am gonna be late for dinner..." because I'll be diving into the lair of a dragon, you don't add. There are some times when you wonder if you should tell her what you're doing or just let her not worry, this isn't one of those times.

So you just add a 'sorry,' take the grumbling on the chin and wait for her to say bye first before diving into the black waters. Well, you guess that is how a poet might call them, the light of cloudy day fades quickly down here, swarms of silvery fish quickly and songs of distant whales giving way to a quiet and stillness disturbed only by the by the gentle fall of marine snow and, the faint light of jellies, fish and stranger things you wish Tiffany was here with you to name, but you can see just fine. The waters seem to whisper you its secrets, the fall of every spiraling spec. It's almost hypnotic, you could imagine yourself going down and down, not coming up for weeks and months as you explore a world as vast as that which lies above the waves filled with its own tragedies and triumphs.

Are there mermaids down here or were-sharks to go with the werewolves, does Atlantis really lie beneath the sea? All questions you could ask and answer if you took the time, but before temptation can get the better of you the bottom comes into view, though that almost seems like the wrong word to use for it.

Nameless peaks jut upwards from the Abyssal plains, birthed in fire, fated never to see the sun. landslides rumble over mountain passes that have felt fewer feet than the surface of the moon. The very act of breathing a gas at this pressure would tear apart the delicate machinery of the human body. Good thing I'm not human.

Gently you step onto the rock that feels pleasantly warm beneath your foot and notice something scuttling along, a ghostly white crab as a lion in its own narrow kingdom. It pays you no more mind that the night watchman back in Norway, though in this case it feels like you're the one being polite not to interrupt its feeding.

Spoiler: Ghost Crab

South and a little east you have yet to swim, the stone grows blacker, newer and the strange dancers in the deep, the eyeless fish and feathery jellies you wished you knew the names to grow fewer. The water is getting hotter, it's definitely not just you. There below you an arc of fire opens and closes rhythmically, breathing in sympathy to the one below.

Spoiler: Rift

What does the dragon think of the thing the Kingfisher and I seek?

The answer comes slow, not in words, but in flashes of emotion that are almost too vast to wrap your head around: Heavy... painful... duty...contentment... slumber... balance unexpected.... closeness.

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 16/18 (Question)

That last feeling reminds you of something you might have missed if you hadn't just spent a few days with Hank, that sense of taking care of one of your siblings 40% amusement at watching them rush around, 20% worry that they are going to bump into something, 90% fondness and it doesn't even matter that adds up to 150%. The treasure is painful to bear but it's helping the dragon stay close to its family... You almost start to look around for a clutch of eggs like but then you remember the other kind of dragon kin, the knights you had freed from Arawn's dungeons.

The Blood of Dragons needs power to keep flowing, all around you is a dragon nest of vast and terrible power and yet the magic does not spill into the sea directed, it's being sent somewhere along the ley lines.

What do you do?

[] Literally poke the sleeping dragon and try to talk to it

[] Swim up to the ship and ask them if they have a plan for the dragon

[] Call Odin and ask him what he's doing

[] Write in

OOC: ATP was still on so you only paid essence for the question.

 

[DragonParadox]

Island at the World's End ​

26st of February 2007 A.D.

Looking into the fire you ask of it the simplest question: Where do you flow? And the fire answers... Buildings white and silver, concrete and steel on a meadow black, Svartsengi. Fire to steam, passing though the stone, steam to lightning bound, lightning life to serve. . Among its pipes and turbines men and women walk just a little closer than you would expect to the scalding shrouds of steam and some are surer on their feet than they aught to be upon the shifting ground, those touched by the Flame and the Stone. Once they had other names, mirrors immaculate, but those memories slip from you like the currents swirling all around and so you are left with the glimpse of the power plant, geomancy hidden in plain sight.

Lost 2 Essence -> Now at 14/18 (Question and Occult Excellency)

Spoiler: Svartsengi

As you kick off and start the long ascent back into the light you wonder if they are the last. It feels wrong somehow, almost obscene for there to be only two of the five still living then you remember the knights again. Would they be welcomed as distant kin, honored elders if they were to set foot in the town by the power plant, or would draconic hackles rise even in human form at the prospect of a rival in their domain? For that matter how would they see me?

Thankfully that question at least has an easy answer, they won't. Just like you had in Norway and Maryland you hide behind a mask, though just to be on the safe side not the same one.

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 13/18 (BMI)

Thankfully the chilly harbor of Grindavik is not without its tourists, this close to the capital there are people going to and fro small commercial and private ships while fishing trawlers ply their trade in the grey waters and gulls fly in their wake ever-hungry for their share. You wouldn't think this is a magical place from a distance, or even from up close, which one imagines is just how those who dwell here prefer, though looking closely one does notice there's a lot more red in people's hair and eyes of slate grey and black as obsidian are just as common, the whispers of a dragon's passage in the blood long ago. But no one here has the power in the blood, no one feels the thrum of essence and shapes it to their will, of that much you're sure.

Someone has to be up at the plant, between the flow of power along the dragon lines and the much more mundane, but no less dangerous job of boring for super-heated water to turn turbines and make electricity it's hard to imagine anyone leaving it without supervision. Alas there are very few ways to show up in someone's place of power unannounced without coming off as at best presumptuous and at worst threatening.

Spoiler: Grindavik

So you decide to do something a little bit different, play the tourist... which is how you end up perusing the particulars of Icelandic fishing almost a hundred years ago. You wouldn't think the process of fishing and then salting the fish would be worth a whole museum to itself, but the Icelandic Saltfish Museum begs to differ and if there is one thing that's true of these local museums the world over it's that they are staffed by people who are always willing to have a chat. After all it's more interesting than sitting and looking at nets the whole day. The history of the town, a girl around your age named Kristin explains, starts in the ninth century when the modern settlement of Grindavik was called Járngerðarstaðarhverfi.

"Wow, not gonna lie that sounds like a a whole incantation. Hope it was a good luck one," you laugh, inviting confidence.

"Wanna know a secret?" he asks with a smile. "The names are pretty simple, salt of the earth stuff, we just smush them together. That one just means Ironworks place."

"So is this one of the oldest towns in Iceland or...?"

"Oh sure, we're close to Reykjavík and that was founded in 870 according to the records, that is sort of the touchstone for earliest settlement. Grindavik was founded about fifty years later towards the tail end of the Age of Settlement." She pauses. "If we sound like we're from Middle Earth that's because Tolkien sounds like us to be clear."

"Got it," you reply seriously, though a smile almost bubbles to the surface. You like the girl, it feels like you could have been friends if you really had come here on holiday and not to investigate dragon-kin linked to a great wyrm sleeping beneath the sea near at hand. "What about older settlement though?"

"According to the Book of Settlements the island was settled by Irish Monks before the Scandinavians came and we do have place names that hint at it, though they haven't found the archeological smoking gun for that yet. Mind you absolutely can sail from Ireland to Iceland in a coracle, you just probably shouldn't if you have sense."

"And no idea when they show up?" you press.

The girl shrugs. "At that point it's trying to date ghosts" she turns to look at a kin who was about to yoink at one of the exhibits over the rope divider. "Looking, no touching, OK?" Then without missing a beat she returns to the conversation: "No material evidence. All we have is a word in a chronicle about 'papar', how they left because they didn't want to be around 'heathens' and hints in other texts that they around generally north. Not like there aren't other islands closer to home they could have landed on. Then again hermits trying to get away from the world don't really leave a lot of signs do they?"

No they do not, though they do provide very good cover for incidental sightings of strangers when the Norse settlers were so few that one couldn't lose one's self in a crowd. You have no doubt that the kindred of dragons has been here a long time warming the embers of their blood in the leyline.

"Cool, listen I have to go..."

"Oh come on, I didn't even tell you about that one time in time in 1627 we had Barbary Pirate abductions, I think they were just figured norsemen were worth extra points or something to come all the way up here."

"You did tell me now," you point out.

What do you do?

[] Drop more obviously magical hints in conversation, see if she bites

[] Go up to the power plant after all

[] Drop Black Mirror Incarnation and see what kind of greeting you'll get

[] Write in

OOC: Enjoy.

 

[DragonParadox]

On More than Maps​

26st of February 2007 A.D.

"D'you have any of the old maps here? I always liked those - you know, where they write "here there be dragons" at the edges of the world, over where places like this would be later discovered" you ask in a conversational tone, emphasis on the 'dragon' a seemingly casual motion of the hand opening your jacket to show the ebon scales underneath.

She stops to look you up and down then, in a tone that's just a little forced she continues. "Mostly they didn't do that, the proper medieval phrase is 'here there be lions', not to say there aren't a lot of maps with dragons around the edge, but that was just the illuminator showing their skills. Medieval people didn't really believe in dragons as part of the every day world. Sure there's a dragon in the Book of Revelations and one in Ragnarok but normally..." she trails off. "Well other than sailors I guess, not hard to believe in sea serpents with everything the sea holds: horned whales and giant squid..."

"Underwater volcanoes," you pick up what she's putting down. "I imagine if you saw a pillar of fire rising from the water one night a dragon blowing it out like some kind of improbable whale would make as much sense as anything. Ever think of where dragons came from. Is it just people being scared of snake and imagining the worst snake, the one no one wants to fight..."

Kristin starts to answer twice, stops herself, then finally gets out in a rush that belies the seemingly ordinary words: "Dragons are old, maybe the oldest legends in the world. When the Norsemen carved them into the prows of their longships the stories had already been told through the millennia. Sky gods fight dragons as men tame the land and make it ready for agriculture."

"But the story is always about someone else far away fighting the dragon, a god a hero, you never hear of a bunch of regular people taking down something as powerful and all encompassing as a dragon." You sigh wistfully. "It's not like there aren't still plenty of mysterious places in the world. Who knows where a dragon might be hiding, on or off the maps."

"Well you know what they say about dragons and the poking thereof..."

"Aargh! My hair's on fire?" you laugh and get a laugh in turn, but it's fleeting.

Her voice drops to a whisper as she adds: "Dragons like gold and they like.. riddles. Why are you here really?"

Lost 1 Essence -> Now at 12/18 (Excellency)
Lost 1 Willpower -> Now at 7/9 (ATB)

[] Because these waters have suddenly become of interest to many powers, some with whom you might be familiar with, others with whom no one should be

[] Well payment in actual gold might be a little awkward, but I'm sure I can work something out with the... dragon in charge

[] Write in

OOC: Hopefully all the double talk is understandable, but if something is confusing do not hesitate to ask.