To refresh everyone’s memories, the party, defined currently as Ariona, Nikolai, Vitto, Brice, Meechum, and DEE, are sitting in deep space. Joining them is Eddie, a strange ghostly halfling . . . singularity point? Also in their possession is the cause for their desire to remain away from anywhere within a mystic sphere of influence, namely the cleansed body of Cain.
One week after Nikolai’s first grocery run on Earth, on Friday, July 7th, he makes another one. This one also goes fairly well, but when he returns, the ghostly cries emanating from the void appear to somehow ``chase’’ Eddie. Some black smoke coalesces around him, and he begins to scream. The scream sounds, not like a single voice, but like many sounds on many frequencies at the same time. The group as a whole determines that next time Nikolai returns, Eddie should be somewhere else. It takes a very long time to get Eddie completely calmed down again.
In the news, Lupus is doing well in the fight against Canus. Ivan Volokhov is missing and presumed dead. The reconstruction of Mars is expected to be completed within a couple of months.
A few days later, an email message appears for Ariona. “What?!” she cries. “I have an ``email’’?!” She immediately heads to the bridge, and says, “DEE?? I just thought I should let you know, I just got an email, and I’m pretty sure that’s not supposed to happen right now. . . .” There is no response from DEE. The email has no sender, no subject, no source, no way to determine from where or whom it came from in any way. Ariona then heads off to try to determine whether anyone else got a similar fortune-cookie-like email. Brice did, and they compare notes. Brice also tells her that Nikolai got one.
They read: Ariona – “Truth sometimes lies even in lunacy, and turmoil may lie beneath a calm ocean.” Brice – “The union of order and chaos yields tragedy . . . revolution . . . and catharsis.” Nikolai – “True understanding lies cloaked in shadow, known only to he who stands for nothing.”
Brice also mentions that he was unable to determine if DEE got anything.
A couple more days pass. Eddie tells Vitto that he can upgrade DEE’s sensor array, but it would require a lot of new parts. Ultimately, Vitto talks everyone into using the remaining wealth of Harry Bryant to fund this. Brice and Ariona have some doubts, but he’s not here and Vitto is, so they reluctantly go along with it. Vitto also gives Nikolai a letter of introduction to his family.
Now it is July 14th. Nikolai returns to the grove on Earth, and is approached by five figures. Three are dwarves, and two are gnomes. One of each race appear to be non-spellbreakers, and the other three have the distinctive crystalline swords of the spellbreakers. The gnomish spellbreaker, a woman, says, “Nikolai? We’ve been sent to investigate your progress.”
“Oh! Well, there’s some good news and some not good news.” Nikolai explains that while they’ve completed their first objective, they still need the sword for a while to ensure the completion of the ritual, and in case they need to cut off Cain’s hand again. They also don’t have the crown. They have a different crown, and they may actually be offering that to Xela as well, but they don’t have the crown she wanted . . . yet. Harry Bryant is working on that.
The Gnomish woman also cautiously allows that Xela might possibly be willing to release the lantern to Nikolai, though she has grown quite fond of it, even if he can’t pony up the crown, but only if he brings her a lot of other nifty things. The false crown would probably be a good start to that, “But . . . I’m not making any promises for her, because otherwise, she’d kill me.”
“The other stipulation Her Grace has made in allowing you extra time is ``this’’.” She shoves one of the dwarven spellbreakers at Nikolai. She explains that he will be going along, to make sure that Her Grace’s interests are being served, and that the party is not just stalling.
Nikolai agrees, but also says that he is going to have to run some errands first. He can’t take the spellbreaker with him more than once. The gnomish spellbreaker nods at the other gnome. He waves his hands a bit, and then tells Nikolai that he has given him the ability to take the dwarf with him a couple of times. He adds, “Two. Two times. And not someone much bigger than him. . . . It better be him!”
The rest of the group leaves by way of the dwarven mystic. Nikolai then checks in with the Caretaker, who is extremely busy but informs him that the ritual will take place in 4-6 weeks, and Nikolai doesn’t need to come back for two weeks yet.
Nikolai enters the restaurant, and a comedy of errors ensues with the dwarf hearing ))mini-Vee`s(( thoughts, and hearing Nikolai’s words, but not being aware that there are actually two people with him. Vitto (by way of Nikolai) instructs the dwarf to order spaghetti . . . with meat sauce . . . but without the coffee.
“Is somebody whispering in your ear?”
“Ye – mm – maybe.”
Nikolai talks to an assistant of Vitto’s father, and determines that he will return next week, since Serge is out of town at the moment. Mostly, he just gets stared at. Nobody in the mob really knows what to do with him.
Finally, the dwarf finishes eating, and they leave. The men in the restaurant watch in puzzlement.
Nikolai, the dwarf, ))mini-Vee((, and the screams return to the ship. Ariona happens to walk by, and asks, “Who’s that?”
Nikolai says, “Oh. Yeah.” He goes over to the intercom, and announces that Xela sent a dwarven spellbreaker back with him to keep an eye on them. Ariona asks what the dwarf’s name is, and he replies that his name is Ned.
Ariona gives Ned a quick tour of the ship, through things like the kitchen and the cabins, since eating and sleeping are minority needs on this ship. :P She also explains that their ship is fully sentient, but he’s sulking right now, so don’t bother him.
At this point, Vitto and Ariona begin talking to Ned, and eventually Brice and Nikolai join in. The party then gets into a long, detailed attempt to explain to Ned why exactly they are waiting here, and why they believe Harry Bryant is actually getting the crown. Ned maintains that the crown and Bryant are “compromised,” and on Luna, but Bryant will not willingly give up the crown any time soon, or probably ever.
Ned refuses to give them anything more useful to go on, nor will he explain what he means by “compromised” in either case. He simply asserts that the crown is absolutely necessary for the ritual, and that somehow the party is supposed to be responsible for getting it. They tend to disagree, Ariona most strenuously, so Nikolai says he’ll return to Earth tomorrow and get clarification from the Caretaker itself.
The discussion breaks up at this point, and lots of secret stuff happens between Vitto and Ned, and then Vitto and Brice.
Vitto returns and asks what their options are for getting to Luna. Ariona points out that they aren’t going to Luna until Nikolai goes and talks to the Caretaker again. Vitto says yes, but after that they’re going to be going to Luna, so what are their options?
Ariona starts to get pretty annoyed with Vitto’s intentional obfuscation, but Vitto remains adamant that he remembers more than he used to, and that he used to be in charge of the family. In fact, Bryant killed him because he wanted to take the family away from Vitto and the Caretaker. He’s not actually going to tell them anything more than that Bryant is not on their side and that Ned is telling them the truth at least to a point, however.
Nikolai prepares to return to Earth, this time without the security breach of ))mini-Vee(( along. Vitto makes a LONG flowchart of questions for Nikolai to ask, since he can’t go along. Pretty much everyone else just wants to know whether it’s now considered more important for them to get the crown now than it is to stay away from mystic spheres until the ritual.
Tuesday, July 15th. Nikolai returns to the Caretaker on Earth with a boatload of questions.
Vitto’s questions mostly pertain to who it’s okay to kill, when and how he should kill them, and can we trust the dwarf? The Caretaker responds that it is “not his responsibility to walk the Terrans through their trials,” but that the dwarf is his agent and is trustworthy to that extent. Cain’s protection, however, is of paramount importance.
Bryant has served his purpose, and is no longer trustworthy, but there is still a high probability that the crown will be delivered on the day of the rite. During this, Nikolai gets the image of a many-branching tree, and many of the buds contain the image of Ned. Some contain the party, and some do not, but
When Nikolai asks for more specificity, the Caretaker basically gives him the impression that He will not provide more guidance. He has already provided an unprecedented amount, and that if He intervenes more, averting this upcoming calamity would be pointless. Free will is key.
Oh, yeah, and as to the fortune cookie emails, “certain experiments yielded unpredictable results. They should be treated as coming from the Miller algorithm: significant, but also cryptic.” The Caretaker is attempting to duplicate this, but with uncertain results. So far the emails were sent to unexpected sources, i.e. to the purpose of the universe, not to the Caretaker’s will.
Nikolai returns to the ship, and explains what the Caretaker has told him. He also adds that Vitto shouldn’t kill Harry Bryant, that Ned should, because Vitto shouldn’t leave the ship but Ned can, and they’ll probably have to kill Bryant to get the crown.
Ariona ponders the implications of the emails coming from the Miller algorithm, because that shouldn’t have been able to happen. Getting cryptic results, sure, but not appearing in an inbox like they did . . . that sounds more like Miller 2.
Back to Bryant, he still actually believes himself to be loyal to the Caretaker, but the nanites are rampant, and they control the crown. Ariona thanks Ned for actually giving them useful information. They then discuss Bryant’s other capabilities, like absorbing one-quarter of the mystic energy thrown at him. This may cause some problems with trying to cast spells at him.
In the news, Lupin troops have occupied Canis and ousted the Volokhovs. Mikhael has been captured, and Viktor has gone over to the Lupin side. Stephen is missing, and rumors abound as to his fate.
StratCo announces that it is now capable of engineering anyone to become a mystic, and will be deploying this technique in the very near future in conjunction with the development of new, improved super soldiers.
Mars’ rebuilding is going more slowly than expected, as many people believe that they are seeing ghosts, and some say the spirit of Cain still haunts the planet.
Now the discussion about who can go along ensues. Several possibilities are discussed, but Nikolai is in favor of himself, Ned, and Brice. The issue is, how to make it so no one can divine anything from them while they’re there. Ariona makes some quite feasible suggestions, and the ultimate plan (over Vitto’s very strenuous objections) is that Nikolai and Brice will do some reconnaissance in Pax, then bamf back and report what they find about Bryant. According to Ned, he’s probably at Mercabah’s headquarters on Luna, which is indeed in Pax. Ariona offers them the use of her house as a base, because it’s a lot more private than Brice’s dorm room.
Nikolai and Brice leave, despite Vitto’s protests that he doesn’t want to risk his life for them to do reconnaissance and he wants to go too, and appear on Luna. Brice checks out the computer system at Mercabah, and discovers that Harry is not there, but his “secretary” is. Bryant was apparently last there earlier this morning, and won’t be back ‘til tomorrow. Brice then traces the log, and attempts to trail him around Pax for the day. Unfortunately, he stands up from his desk and disappears. Oops, did everyone forget that he’s a mystic? :P
They get a decent idea of when he’s probably going to be back the next day, displace to the Grove on Earth to throw off any trail, and then Void-hop back to DEE.
There’s a lot more debate about what should happen next, and though many people are not happy with this plan, Nikolai and Brice return to Pax on Thursday, July 17th.
Bryant states that he wants the crown to remain in his possession until the ritual, and he “wouldn’t miss the ritual for the world.” He believes himself to still be working in the Caretaker’s best interests, or at least claims that he does so, and he feels that it is in the Caretaker’s bests interests that he keeps the crown. He wants to see the ritual take place, and the crown is necessary for the ritual. Obviously, he has ulterior motives, but he seems to truly believe what he’s saying.
Nikolai goads Bryant into increasing anger, until the point at which he demands to know what the point of the meeting is, if Nikolai isn’t going to believe anything he says. He then asks Nikolai to leave, because he’s a very busy man. Nikolai announces that he is going to go speak to the Caretaker again. Bryant is suspicious, but allows them to leave . . . quickly.
On their way out, Nikolai detects a faint whiff of sulfur.
They return to the ship, and Nikolai is extremely adamant that they should return and kill Bryant, but they ought to talk to the Caretaker first, too. You know, just to make sure.