WEEK 4

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 4

[After the meeting, Lilac gives everyone a small vial of something red. Those who left the meeting receive it from the rats on the crew. She gives instructions as to how to take it. Take in a drink, preferably tea. Drink it slowly. Make sure you can get to your bed once you finish. The headache will come quickly.

Nevertheless, even as everyone slips into sleep, they are visited once more by the Conductor in what must have been a dream. Or was it? It's not clear.

She is quiet as she speaks, looking out the windows, even though the view is obscured by the glass.

"I know you think me as a monster. Maybe I am after all these years. I have no illusions. But I cannot regret the things I've done.

"Nor can I regret the Bazaar...it was so wonderful. It opened my eyes to the truth of things and opened doors I never could have seen on my own. It was the first time I felt true love for another. I wasn't the only one-my daughter, too, passed through the Wicket. Saw the sea more sunless within the Bazaar's body. Learned as I learned. She sought to rival me in symbols, in marking skin."

She closes her eyes.

"She is dead now, of course. Everyone I knew in the Neath-on our Earth-is. Well. Almost everyone. London endures, naturally. But the Echo Bazaar...it's beautiful promise...it's gone. The Seventh City will never fall, and it's Message will forever remain undelivered. Of all the creatures in the universe who might remember it, I am alone in honoring it.

"Perhaps it's noble. Perhaps it's foolish. In any case, maybe it doesn't matter. Maybe it's the thought that's important. As long as I am here, there is yet a possibility that the deed may be finished, somehow.

"Still, I wonder. Maybe you have the answer.

What happens to a Message, when neither the sender and receiver exist anymore?"




As the day dawns, everyone wakes up to the sound of howling winds and darkness. Their head hurts, but they do have a new memory to accompany the ache. They are also at a new port. It is a dark place, teetering on the edge of safe space and the unknown in between void, where those who enter rarely return. Or, so you have to assume, right? Either way, that blackness on the deep horizon doesn't look particularly fun to try to drive through.

There is a legitimate fear in Lilac's expression that betrays her for the first time, as she lets everyone disembark, including the unicorn and the young man, who quickly jump onto another train to get away from this place. She also refuses to leave the train. She does leave you with a fair warning.

The Synod of Carcels is dangerous, in its own way, and everyone can feel it. Everyone can feel something hanging in the air. It's not natural. It's bending reality. It's also not something that started with you or your arrival. Yet it threatens to become that way, to become part of you. You can feel the temptation gnaw at you. You can hear the winds whisper of it. There is a hunger here-and knowledge as well.

The question, of course, is whether the price to uncover those things is worth it-and what will be found here with the price that is paid. But as the Conductor said-a reckoning cannot be postponed. Not forever.


There are eleven strangers left in this place.]

((IMPORTANT OOC NOTE: This week and it's investigations involve major Fallen London spoilers, in particular spoilers regarding Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name and one of it's endings. If you, as a player here, are playing Fallen London and do not wish to be spoiled, let us know, and we will make sure you are not given any ending spoilers to the best of our ability. We will also be marking spoiler-filled comments with tags, and we request that our players do likewise, in consideration for those who might look through this post in the future.

With that said, have fun, and remember-all shall be well.))

Comments

[katzenpfote]

[He looks up at the figure, trying to focus in the dark cave he sees.]

... Explain.

[disregartist]

(The suns. The Judgments. Not just the Clockwork Sun.

'Forthigan invited them in, Arthur threw them back.

Every invitation is also a betrayal.'

We had an Earth, before. It's gone now. Replaced by another Earth, from another universe, another cluster. A world of technology, a world a century apart from our own. Pulled in by a wound in this universe. A wound created on our side.)

[She looks down at her candle.]

Have you ever seen what happens when you drill a hole into a wall? It leaks, It cracks. It weakens. It invites the ants and termites until the foundations of your house are pocked. Eventually, the house will collapse.

Who do you think invited that Earth?)

[katzenpfote]

... Those that sought, and tried to find what reality thinks should not be found.

[biddentodance]

...The integrity of this universe is compromised. [Mmmmm don't like that.] What....happened to this universe's Earth? Are pieces of this universe falling into others, or just...negated?

[He??? Doesn't know much about this Seeking business??? Yes he was here the whole time no he doesn't understand. He'll leave Caleb to cover the more...esoteric stuff, none of Edogawa's lessons had anything on this...]

"Little Courtesy" is something to do with this, isn't it?

[disregartist]

(Gone. Replaced. They call it the Replacement.)

[Closing her eyes.]

(You are correct-but in the opposite manner. Pieces of other universes are...being pulled here here. Contrary to what...some may think, the Empress has no control over this.

But that is why you are here.

...

Yes. It does.)

[katzenpfote]

... Is it.. fueling the acquisition of other places somehow? Some sort of sacrifice?

[disregartist]

(A sacrifice. A penance. A meal. A delay. All of those things and more.

But, a reckoning cannot be postponed indefinitely. It is not a question of if, but when the reckoning is.)

[katzenpfote]

It's going to break apart, isn't it? This world. You can only hold pieces together for so long...

[disregartist]

(It is very much a possibility, now, I'm afraid.)

[biddentodance]

[Part of him questions if this is his fault somehow. Bringer of ruin, or whatever. He doesn't give it voice.]

Don't.... understand how the Little Courtesy is supposed to help the situation-- unless the Empress doesn't want to fix it? "Doesn't have control over" doesn't mean "against" it...

....if pieces of other universes are being pulled here, isn't that ripping holes in those pieces' home universes? Does that mean this...phenomenon could spread?

[katzenpfote]

It could. And she can bring the pieces under her control. Because she's lost sight of what one is supposed to do with power, correct?

[He knows what he wants to do with it is selfish. But he can't help but want it... he misses them, even if he knows he can't bring them back.]

[disregartist]

(That, of course, is under the assumption that the Empress isn't doing anything. Given the Empress' history, though...she has been very wasteful with her power in the past, for certain.)

[To Minato.]

(Quite possible, yes. Though there's no way to know for certain.)

[katzenpfote]

... It is not possible for a single person to fix this. But you know much. Is it possible to guide you back to the person who discarded you?

[disregartist]

(I can never be reunited with her. She discarded me willingly, and will never accept me back into her. I could never love the monster as she did.



But. I can still help you, if you need me. You cannot take me with you, once you leave the Synod. But there is something of mine you can take with you.)

[katzenpfote]

... What is it? Tell us.

[disregartist]

(My heart.)

[A smile.]

(You can't take it like this. But when you need me...when I am needed, I shall be there. All you must do is say the words.)

[katzenpfote]

And what words are those?

[disregartist]

[She leans in, her whisper soft and quiet.]

(Begin to speak these words.

"In the Between there are fires,
and each fire a mystery.
But oh, oh ho, those fires that hunger.
The squirming heart of each a liberated dark...")

[The words echo through Caleb's head, as if pounding into it like a hammer.]