Zeitgeist Blue

"Excuse me?" Nicole said, her smile tightening into a thin line, brows furrowed. She wasn't expecting this... whatever this was from her roommate. Astrid did not look like she appreciated them showing up. Nicole gave a questioning glance at Sara and Monica, hoping they'd have some insight, before she turned back to Astrid. She held up a hand, tapping each point on one of her fingers. She started with her index. "First, I'm seventeen and older than you. I'm allowed to be juvenile." She rapped her middle finger. "Second, my smart's all natural." Ring. "Thirdly, what's gotten you up in a bunch? Don't like getting your picture taken or people dropping by in a museum? I didn't take you to be an art connoisseur."

Nothing is there but more jars and more rooms, branches that lead off into the dark. Neil is right behind you, swinging his flashlight around. His hand gripped his machete and he shifted it, anxious about what you face. He swings his flashlight and just as the light moves past a room further away you catch sight of something standing just behind the doorway. You think in that flash of a second you notice arms and feet, clothes hanging off a back and hair. A face staring straight at you. Neil sees it too and he slashes the light back around but it is gone. "Trespassers..." You here the whisper as if it were right beside you and Neil jumps too, pivoting around to catch sight of the source of the sound. But there is nothing there and he looks at you and back at the doorway, then back at you again, and you see him set his face. "Come on, Crow. This is nothing. You wanted to solve this mystery, right?" And he strides forward. He brandishes his flashlight like a lifesaver, swiveling it around, but he sees nothing. Then you hear it again, coming from past that room, further down the catacombs as if it wanted you to chase it. "Despoilers..." It echoes, as real as any sound you can make.

"Oh of course," Arthur said, turning to look everyone in the eye as he shook Veronica's hand. The action was familiar, like Nicole had done, but more controlled and with a glint that hinted he knew more than he was letting on. "Help. That is something everyone needs and with a Danger here I doubt events would degrade so much as to be unsalvageable." He let go of Veronica's hand then and stepped to the side, directing their attention to a space in front of the group with a slow wave of his hand. He shakes his head. "The first time she had brought any of her friends and it is to do her dirty work. But I can hazard a guess as to what you seek. Little it is not." A circle appeared before them, and like a window hanging in space it opened to a view of another layered dimension. The horizon is dark, black where yours is white, and where structures, large as skyscrapers swung and floated as if there was no concept of gravity or up or down. They were crystal and brushed steel melded into one, pulsing to a heartbeat you could not see or hear. Concrete and glass entombed the crystals inside the structures, and where the crystals showed and pulsed it was in colors that spanned the rainbow - blue from green to red and back to purple. They dwarfed you and what little you could see from your side of the dimensional window could not see an end to the skyscraper structures, their bases hidden from view. Yet even then they did not demand all your attention, for in the middle of it all was a Dyson-like sphere. The skyscrapers revolved around it like planets to a sun, knowing that they were but periphery to the center of the universe. The sphere was smaller, like a house in the middle of America suburbia, but there was something about it that screamed 'Important'. It too was covered in metal but it reflected its surroundings perfectly and you could see the skyscrapers on its surface. Circuitry ran along its body, a constant golden stream of glowing neon blood, and runes swam in it, forming meaning in how they collated and branched off around and around again. A wide slit in the middle separated the top and the bottom portion of the sphere, and here the golden glow of the circuitry became a torch in the dark, harsh and almost painful to look at. It rotated slowly, perfectly, as if on a vertical axis. And as it did you see a scorched area reveal itself. It is a hole in the sphere, where metal curled inwards into jagged edges and the circuitry terminated with sparks that seemed to glitch midair. It was no bigger than an SUV but even as you looked, you could see it expanding ever so slowly. A tumor in the machine. "There it is, the source of all my daughter's sleepless nights. It had broken in a two nights ago and had completely shut down the secondary systems less than a day since." Arthur explained and you could see he held a simple wooden cane in one hand. "It is only a matter of hours until it finishes what it has started." He lifts his cane, crook first, and the window widened into a doorway. "Take this and take care. Something else wanders through the armor while this-- this self-perpetuating spell bashes its head into a wall. Most likely it will come when it senses its cousin in danger. I suggest you enter with a plan to receive the stronger spell, do not think that with the state the Bellios' Self is in that you could walk out of here successful merely spell-slinging."

GM (23) Jungle Memories: Walking the Daydream (19) Through the Mirrored Glass and Back Again (4) Salvo (19) Let's Fall in Like (1) Red Sky at Night (2) Sundae Cup Sparks (3) The Gift of Home (10) The Red Will Rise (3) 20 Questions (+1PP) HellQ (+1PP)

Nicole had accompanied Ajasoro to the museum, having picked up an invitation from her classmate. Monica was there too and though Nicole had not interacted much with the moody Sophomore she did not mind their small group. She did not know much about art, and less about Dakanan art, so she stayed near Ajasoro as she toured them around the display. She kept one ear on her schoolmates as she looked around, sure that there was much to learn here about a nation still emerging. "What kind of techniques do you think the artists use? They must have developed some weird things being as isolated as they were, right?" Nicole asked from beside Ajasoro. They were inside a room with the theme of Dakanan myths revisited and modernized when, she spied Astrid across the room. Nicole couldn't help but snort at the sight of the hard rocking rocker looking like a kid on a field trip. Nicole took out her phone and snapped a quick photo, then sent it to Astrid through chat. Only then did she give her roommate a wave, catching the half-Asgardian's eye and loudly whispering to catch her attention. "Astrid, hey!"

You resume your trek into the catacombs, past the broken door and the broken skeleton. As soon as you step through, it is as if the darkness envelopes you. Even with Neil's flashlight cutting through in a tight cone and your heightened vision, you can barely see more than a few meters ahead of you. Everything else is indistinct, shrouded, shapes that come from half-dreams. The sounds too seem muted and the beating of your heart fills the empty sound, rushing into your ears. The walls push towards you, barely enough for two men to walk abreast. But you walk and you walk, and you walk some more. The tunnel is straight and does not seem to have been as affected by the earthquake as other parts of the temple. "Crow," Neil says, breaking the silence so suddenly you could jump. "I don't think we're under the temple anymore." He shines thr flashlight around you and you see you aren't in the narrow tunnel anymore. It widens and you see shelves along the walls, and in these shelves lie jar-like things, faded paint decorating their bodies. Masks stare at you with hollow eyes and gaping mouths. These are the jar of the mummified Cuespac, you realize, and there are dozens of them within your immediate view. The catacomb branches out from the room you stand in. You can almost see the silhouettes of more jars within more shelves lining more rooms. Neil steps beside you, mouth open slightly. "Damn, this was never in any record." He is still taking it all in when something moves at the corner of your vision, far from the light the flashlight provides. You turn to look but it steps out of view, behind a stack of jars in the room next to you.

Edited, TA Salvo Additions 4PP (5DP) to Bellios Device 4DP (16R) to Enhanced Skills Intimidate 12 Notice 4 (+4) Enhanced Feats (Skill Mastery (Computers, Intimidate, Notice, Search)) 1PP (4R) to Skills Craft (Structural) 4 (+11) 1PP to Feats Skill Mastery (Craft (Artistic), Knowledge (Cosmology), Knowledge (Physical Sciences), Knowledge (Technology)) Changes Moved 2R from Craft (Chemical) to Craft (Artistic) Salvo (2nd Set of Edits) Reduce Normal Identity Frequency from Very Common to Common Add Ultimate Skills (Craft (Electrical), Craft (Mechanical), Craft (Structural), Knowledge (Arcane Lore))

<Leave it!> Two men come running from deeper in the tunnel, their flashlights carving through the darkness. You recognize the one in the lead as the same man whose skeleton rests in the observatory. His hands are free save for the flashlight he carries, unlike the other man trailing him. The second man is a native too but his hands are occupied trying to juggle a flashlight of his own and two bags of what you guess are jewelry and other precious items. He struggles to keep up with the first. What is common for both men though is the panick they exude, panting with exertion, sweat staining their shirts. They run for the stairs and they have to scramble up, hands digging to find purchase on the stone. <Leave it!> The first man shouts again. <I can't! We need this! My daughte-- ghkk!> He drops what he is holding as his hands grasp at something around his neck that you cannot see, and he stays there, grasping and choking. The first man's eyes widen and he resumes his flight up the stairs, leaving his companion. You see the man being choked reach out one last time before his bones break and his body is flung away so forcfully it crashes through the heavy wood door. "Crow?" Neil asks you as the scene ends.

"Crow." Neil calls you as you approach the skeleton but he doesn't stop you. You examine the teeth and they look like those of a normal human's, nothing which suggests the long, sharp ones vampires would use for bloodsucking. But this close, you notice other injuries. Broken bones, ribs shattered, the neck bent at an unnatural angle. it lays splayed over the door as if it were thrown into it. And then something catches your eye in the darkness, half-hidden beneath the skeleton's tattered clothes. You brush your fingers against it and pull it free easily. A blade made out of bone, like something used for cutting clean. Its handle is dull and carved in delicate figures. You recognize it as one of the ritual tools Neil had taken from the altar on the ground floor. Before you could search for more, Neil moves to your left and picks up another tool from the ground. He rubs it with the sleeve of his shirt and you see a hint of gold underneath the dirt. He looks at you. "...What?" Then he looks down again, shining his flashlight on the ground. He picks up another, and then another, each one as rich and gold as the last and he brings the three to you. Two large earrings, a necklace. "Crow, this was a graverobber."

Hey SC, are you doing a Search action? Because if so, roll Search! DC 20.

Neil scowls at your warning but he kneels down and puts down his backpack, pulling out a flare. He brushes past you and shines his flashlight down the stairs. "Yeah. Stake a rope somewhere around here." He points vaguely around you, at the masonry and plantlife growing through the ancient stone. "There's probably something sturdy enough." He waits as you stake a rope, stepping to the side as you move to the catacomb entrance. Then he lights the flare and tosses it down the stairwell. You hear it tumble to the bottom and ending with a dull thud. It lights the bottom in a red light and you see underbrush and moss, weeds among the stone slabs, but nothing which the reptilian eyes belonged too. Neil gestures for you to lead and in a few moments you descend down the stairs, a hand on your rope and Neil behind you. As you move down you feel the familiar heat of the ring against your finger and the stairwell blur. There are alcoves along the walls, long unused, but they begin to glow with a fire millennia old. Two figures walk past. They hold headdresses in the crook of their arms, feathers colorful and proud even just under the light of the torches. Their robes are rich and patterned. Gold jewelry hang from their ears and necks, depicting symbols of their Moon goddess. One is older, long gray hair pulled back in a ponytail, and the other is taller by almost a head and as the torchlight shines on his face you realize you have seen him before. It is the man from your first dream, younger now. "They ask if the earthquakes will ever stop." The older man begins as the taller one listens impassively. "They ask and pray but still they do not. We have the answer. You know that, Hakan." "I doubt that." "Like you've always done. But this is different. Come and we shall show you the rituals we have devised. Do it for our old friendship at the least." The taller one does not respond to that and they leave you. Soon the vision fades as well, the torchlight giving way to the red of the flare. Your feet touch solid ground and you let go of the rope. "Damn it!" Neil gives a low growl and he pulls out his machete. You turn to look what has spooked him. A few feet into a corridor you see a skeleton skewered over the remnants of a large wooden door. Damp old cloth clings to the bones as it lays over the broken door. A sharp piece of wood is stuck between the skeleton's ribs.

"Heh." Nicole scoffed and closed her eyes, smiling faintly. After a few moments of silence, she looked up at Sara. "Guess you really are a fit for your thing. You make it work with the stories and the ideals," Nicole said, then shook her head. "I get your point. It's the people that matter at the end and you and me can help in that, not just as symbols but in really doing something. I'm here, doing my part as Nicole, and... not the other person." She was clearly referring to her superhero alter-ego. "But you-- you can give the greatest help, even without any of the masks you wear, I think." They stopped by a door to an office, glass walls letting them see an Asian woman inside dealing with paperwork. She was too busy to notice Sara and Nicole standing outside her room. A sign hung from the door telling Sara it was a Saito Karisse A. Graham inside. "But think where I'm coming from. I'm an engineer at heart and no matter how much cooperation or people you have, sometimes you need a pulley to lift something heavy. People and tools, wouldn't it be nice to have both instead of just one?" She looked at Sai inside the office. "Just wait here for a bit. I'll talk to her," and Nicole turned the knob and went inside, leaving Sara outside with her thoughts.

The area, looked at through your senses, isn't as empty as it would seem at first glance. The whiteness hides within it bands of magic, shifting and seething in grid-like patterns. The "ground" you stand on. The "sky" above you. Like two chips placed on over the other with you in the middle, they and magic stretch from horizon to horizon. Arthur Whitfield too is saturated in this glowing grid magic, though more lay hidden which you cannot parse at the moment. The best analogy you could give would be as if you were inside the links you manipulate between your trinkets. This is a binding. A glue that holds many, many things together. (OOC: Take a hint that could be used for later, but I won't remind you of it.)

"Yeah, this isn't what I was expecting too but--" Neil sighs then shakes his head. You see doubt when he looks back at you, and though he lets you take the lead when you start again he is slower, less enthused, now quieter. It takes the better part of the afternoon to find a way to the catacombs. You return to the ground level and search every nook and cranny, using Neil's map for guidance. It isn't particularly efficient work but you see no other way of finding what you're looking for. Your breaks are short, just enough for lunch and tea, and later snacks but they are enough to keep you going. Finally, it is only when you stumble past a partially broken wall do you find an entrance way hidden behind the wall and stairs leading downwards. The sun hangs low in the sky, casting long shadows within the temples, and yours and Neil's silhouettes fall down the catacomb stairs to an inky blackness. At the bottom of the stairwell, your enhanced vision sees two sets of eyes watching the two of you. Reptillian, glowing an oily green in the darkness. It notices you watching back and it blinks, disappearing in an instant. Neil, unaware, shines a flashlight through and you see deep cracks in the rock. He slides forward and experimentally taps his flashlight at a crack at the wall. Bits of stone break off at the contact. "Be careful here, Crow. This area doesn't look stable."

@Thevshi Give me a Craft (Art) or Knowledge (Arcane Lore) roll to see what Veronica could parse. You could also roll Knowledge (Technology) or Craft (Structural). The skill will determine what you get.

Yep, pretty low roll. It'll determine how long it'll take you and perhaps what you'll encounter, to be written in the next GM post.

It'd be the latter. Your minds/souls and belongings were transferred inside the armour. But hey, you still have physical stimuli!

GM The switch flips and you find yourselves in whiteness. It fills everything but yourselves and the others with you. It is the ground and the sky, the world inside the helmet. "Ah, visitors. I was not expecting any." A man's voice speaks up, well-tailored and smooth, and when you look around you see an older gentleman, sitting on a plush velvet armchair, who definitely not there the last time you checked. He is a darker skinned man, gold-rimmed glasses perched on the bridge of his nose and neat dark hair, graying at the edges. He wears a dark blue robe and fluffy, bedroom slippers. His slim fingers hold a newspaper, dated today, which he folds as he stands from his armchair, still regarding you, and you realize a cutting intelligence hides behind his eyes. "Apologies for the mess." He blinks and now his outfit is a sweater and cardigan, much like that of a professor in a university. The armchair and newspaper is gone. "Better." "Now," he says, strolling towards you, arms open in greeting. "Where are my manners? I am Arthur Whitfield, though you may call me Arthur just fine. And whose acquaintance do I have the pleasure of making? What brings you to this humble abode?"

Give me a Search roll. Staged.

Kayara watches you leave, her face unreadable, as she easily lifts herself back into the altar, crossing her legs under in the same pose you first saw her as. Then the observatory blocks her from your view and it is only you and Neil now, boots padding softly against the stone floor. "The catacombs?" He asks after some time, walking up to a little forward of you. "I suppose if we really want to find the way there, we should search what the ground floor, look for any promising entrances. But, Crow," and he twirls, stopping in his tracks and a hand outstretched. "Why pursue this? Something is going on and I don't like it. All this talk of sacrifice and Moons and crazy not-ghosts. Let's leave and figure out how to remove that ring of yours when we're not here and safe." He looks at you and you can see a hint of trepidation in his eyes. "What do you say?"

"Both. Yes, I like the sound of that. A blessing and a bane to be carried for all eternity..." She moves around the altar, fingers tracing its edge as she circumnavigates the circle. "They told me I was pretty, that I was blessed and a gift, a child to be cared for then a woman to be lifted on a pedestal. Yet now I do not know. What has Her touch done?" Fingers pick at a strand of hair across her face, stark white as if the clouds framed her face. "I feel so far away, cut off from Her. A hand without an owner. A child without a mother." "They said the Moon lived through me but does it still do so now?" She finishes a lap around the altar then suddenly pivots towards you, eyes alight with manic energy. "Why not all, explorer of this caves? When you are prisoner you care not for your captive's nature, only how they treat you and the years that pass by." She steps closer to you and her tongue darts out, as if tasting you and the air, licking her lips. Her hand darts forward and grabs your own, before lifting it closer to her face to regard the ring on it. Her fingers are warm, very warm, and as solid as you or Neil are. "So curious. I know this ring from somewhere long ago..." She pries her eyes from the ring and brings them up to meet yours. She is shorter but not by much. "I was sacrificed to appease the gods. Promised paradise but woke up to a living nightmare, this half-state of mine." She regards you for a few more seconds before she tiptoes to whisper in your ear. "I have been everywhere in this cursed and blessed temple. Everywhere, but the catacombs under the ground. It lurks there and though I do not live I cannot comprehend that place, so far from the sky. Go there and perhaps you may find the answers you so would love to seek." She pulls back her face and you see her beam at you. "Or stay! Stay here with me until the sun sets and the evening truly begins. It is so beautiful."

Sounds great. No, idea how Nicole and Aja would vome out of Sundae Cup Sparks but they already do know each other and it doesn't look hostile either. So that's a good thing!

Same here if you'd take Nicole.

Nicole's shoulders slumped and she lightly thumped her forehead. Of course they had an embassy here! She should have done her homework instead of rushing this like there was no tomorrow. She looked back up, a little embarrassed at that goof. "No yeah, help would be great. I don't think I'm the girl to say so though. I could bring it up to Sai, the head here, and she'll probably say yes anyway." Her wheelchair began to move forward as she ducked her head, hoping she had made up with Sara. "It's not that these guys can't be involved. It's just, the root problems are things that you can't just snap your fingers and hope they go away. You saw how it was outside, everything's fine. The infrastructure's there, the cars and the buildings, but there isn't life anymore. People just need something to get through today, you know?" She sighed as she pushed they passed another doorway, going deeper into the building. They saw stacks of papers on desks, desktops, and whiteboards. This was more an office now than when they had first stepped inside. "ArcheTech isn't the best at relief. We specialize in bleeding-edge tech and super-powers, but we try? Maybe I'm not giving you enough credit. You try. Dakana tries. But what if it isn't enough now? We tried but what happens when people need something more than trying?" Nicole shook her head and let the questions hang in the air. They were directed at Sara just as much to herself.

"The past? That is quite a long time. Such a long, long time ago." Her eyes wander the room as if seeing images and stories that have long been ground to dust. She unfolds her legs all the while and steps down from the platform between you and Neil. For Neil's credit, backs away, not daring to break the musings of a goddess, though his eyes flicker to you for direction. "So many things to explore but you are caged when you should be free. Like a bird or a butterfly. They fly but learn to die alone." The leaves stir as her bare feet wade through them and when you ask her who she is, she stops and blinks then slowly her head turns towards you, as if just remembering you are still here."Oh, me? I can be many things but seem to be nothing at all. Time flies here and you forget and you remember then forget and do it all over again. I envy you your exploration. Such purpose!" She stops herself and blinks again, more languid this time, before she gives you a sleepy smile. "I remember." "My name was once Kayara Tupanqui. A girl touched by moonlight, a priestess of this temple, a wife to another priest."