⟡ I think the next time we do this, we should look at doing it how they do it in Orbital. Or specifically the No Dice, No Masters thing.
∃ i wish it was possible to speak hyperlinks in meatspace.
⟡ I mean… There’s probably some sort of peripheral for that, or one could be made, I suppose.
∃ and how are we going to get the thing to be hyperlinked to if it’s an association like this one? it just unravels the farther you try to chase it. anyway, you were saying?
⟡ Right. I’ve been thinking since last session ended that what we do is technically this sort of thing already, but I’d like to try doing less of a focused rotating GM setup and more of a everyone gets to have a say every session setup.
⏻ anything in particular you’re expecting to have troubles with this time?
⟡ Hmm… It’s mostly the sense that I’ll be doing a lot of talking to myself, I think? Though now that I’ve said that, I might just offload a couple to you two so that isn’t an issue.
∃ yeah, that sounds good. nice step forward from how we’ve already been handling things t b h.
⏻ yep!
⟡ Any other pre-session matters to attend to?
∃ …i sort of want to work out our dialog better. ∃
“Right now it’s sort of like this,”
but it gets treated like its own paragraph up on the web so the line-break gets eaten. hell, i don’t even know how the second tag is going to show up there, it might combine the two.
⏻ do you feel like testing anything right now? we could make a dummy page or a small edit, or run it locally to check (how do we do that again, it’s been years since this was set up)
∃ oh, nothing as grandiose as that. but i might try a couple oh god that doesn’t work out here. ew. nevermind. everything disagrees with each other. okay, no, i think i’ll have to look at Quartz’s rendering code at some point, which would also let me finally get rid of those damn prettified quotations.<br/> tags and see how they go here, and have it cleaned up for our finale and anything after.
⏻ my condolences…
∃ or maybe we just start putting quotes in-line with the rest of our stuff, which might be better… oh i guess we could color-code dialog maybe? there’s a thought.
⟡ Please remember to pick up extra condolences next time you’re out at the shop, we’re running low on those lately.
⏻ fiiiiine.
⟡ Alright. Without any other further ado, let’s get back into it.
Wider North Rock | Daybreak to Late MorningWinds wakes the other two and (after indicating /eir throat is too sore to speak much after the previous night) leads the way down the road toward the edge of the rock they’ve rested on. It is about half the distance they traveled in the previous day, but there are descents and climbs scaffolded and carved into all the rocks of the Cairn to allow for ease of movement between them where they overlap. This one goes down.
⟡ Gnarlwood has picked up her thing to deliver or do, right? What’s that like?
⏻ oh, right! i completely forgot to get to that last time. let’s see… there’s a hiking backpack that was stored in one of the post office’s few locked boxes, which she pulls out and puts on without checking anything. She also picks up Argeum’s parcel again, and slips that back into her more normal carrying pouches, before rejoining the other two on the road.
∃ Echo will offer to hold on to those.
⏻ Sparks will… i guess she’ll pass those over, then. since that isn’t really her job the way this other thing is. for the record, it doesn’t seem all that heavy by her footfalls, but maybe she’s used to carrying heavier things, too.
⟡ Also, in case it wasn’t obvious, she has cured her Harm from the last time. It’s such a shame that we weren’t able to do anything else with that.
⏻ oh, i’m sure next time we look at this system we’ll be able to find something with a lot of sparring. verbal or otherwise.
∃ there are plenty of good things to look at just around this valley another time, true. but maybe we can use that to set up for a meatspace campaign next time.
⟡ What, you don’t want to worldbuild collaboratively forever?
The edge of Wider North Rock | Late MorningIt’s quiet out here, with the individual towns all preparing for their festivities. The wind is wet, as always, though a bit drier this close to the center of the Cairn than it would be near the edges. Sunlight cuts across the top of the mountains and the other rocks here, glinting off different rock features and bits of the scaffolded outer shell of the path downward, which seems to be a well devouring it.
Winds
/ey look down for a moment, before grabbing the hand-rail to the stairs and starting the steps down. If /ey say anything, it’s lost to the wind.
Spark
”…Well, this is it. I suspect we’ll appreciate your lights a lot more once we’re down there, Echo.” She makes sure her bags and belts all sit right, then follows. “I gotta say, it’s nice out here.”
Echo
What, do you sit out here and stare at the middle distance?
Spark
“I have, a few times. It’s a specific kind of feeling, you know. Sitting on the edge of the world, but as far as you could possibly be from the outside of the valley.”
Echo
Wow, we've come so far on our journey together! I can't believe we're reaching the end and we're only... Halfway there?
Spark
“Oh, good question. Like I said, I’ve never been all the way down. Winds, you know anything about that?”
Winds
”…” /ey pause, and stare off in thought for a moment. /eir voice, when it comes back, is still light and rather raspy, but audible. “It shouldn’t be long, but it will be far, is what I was told.”
Spark
“Well! That’s something, at least.”
Echo
If it didn't feel so dangerous, ii'd start playing something on the way down... Wouldn't want to slip.
Descending the first level of the Cairn...
While the stairs and construction are not weak or rickety, Echo’s worry is not all that misplaced. It’s not impossible to slip and hurt yourself on the stairs if you stop paying attention, and in theory, if you end up going fast enough you might break through one of the walls at the turnaround on each flight of stairs. It’s not that much of an issue for this group, but in the sunlight it’s clear that this has been repaired many times with different materials of the same time but differing colors. A few longer scratches and burn-marks pock the surface of the rock, as well.
Still, after a couple dozen flights down at most, the scaffolding opens out into the area between the Cairn’s first layer of rocks and the ground beneath it, showing something of a rest area.
⟡ Give me one EYE roll each, and I’ll let you know what you see. Winds is resting for a moment while you look around.
∃ this is what happens when you have muscles and don’t use them enough!
EYE (Echo)
(4 1) + 1 = 6
EYE (Gnarlwood)
(4 6) + 1 = 11
∃ drat.
⏻ wahaha, i’m so good at this.
∃ you’re also the furthest one from a level-up, by 3 entire failures.
⏻ fuck.
⟡ Alright, we’ll start with what Echo doesn’t see: People. There’s a few stalls or booths around, and what seems to maybe be an office, but no signs of anyone else being around. Spark additionally would see that there is some sort of circuit running around the large hole in the center of the area, right below the gaps in the first layer of rocks, and a light rail that spirals its way into the darkness. There is nothing on it.
Spark
“Surely they don’t mean for us to walk this.”
Echo
What?
Spark
“The rail! The track?” She gestures at it. “There must be something around here to ride down on it with.”
Winds
“Well that does explain the length,” Winds says weakly, staggering back to /eir feet. “Perhaps a cart, or something here…”
Spark
“Alright, you stay put for a second. Don’t make Echo carry you when we get down there.”
Echo
Just open up the backpack once you've handed it off, and— Wait, more importantly, didn't you say you'd been down here before?
Spark
“Well yeah, but by another path. They have a different way down from the other ends. I’d heard this one’s for the official visits and whatever, but they never really told me how to use it.”
Echo
...Anything you could look for? Maybe in that office?
⏻ Dowse, or…?
⟡ Sure! It’s an EYE sort of day.
DOWSE
(5 3) + 1 = 9
∃ so what was that about being so good at these…?
⟡ This is a very expected result for her Dowsing, of the two times we’ve seen it.
⏻ should we just start placing bets next time on how rolls will go?
∃ with what, our condolences?
⟡ Please do not turn the condolences into chips. Okay, she locates something, I assume? What is your downside? I’ll be making you take on a debt, so something other than that.
⏻ …fuck, idk, do we just go for Harm again? none of the others make sense here.
∃ could i… am i allowed to assist with this?
⟡ If it was another type of action, then I’d consider it, but this is just from using the gig book ability, so I’ll say no.
∃ understandable, have a bad day.
⏻ yeahhh, let’s just go with Harm. she’s really straining herself with this one thing she does. maybe she’s just rusty with it.
⟡ Cool! So, running with that, her headache returns as she tries to find what’s necessary. Maybe it’s a bad week for it, maybe she’s just still that on edge about everything; she does still of course find that there is a cart within the office Echo saw earlier, and another more sophisticated one off to the side under a tarp, so the group can start moving whichever one they choose.
⏻ what’s the difference?
⟡ Well, both fit you all. The smaller one has simpler controls, with a basic handbrake and kickoff and presumably draws its power from the rail. The larger one is heavier, but is more like a personal subway compartment that looks like a bit comfier for a ride once you get on it.
⏻ i’m for the larger one.
∃ also. Echo does not fully trust either of these things, but it knows the other two are going to go one way or the other, and it does not want to risk Winds flopping out of the side like a fish somehow.
⟡ That is a potential risk here, huh? Alright, I’m going to roll HAND for us as a group until we get 2 weak hits or 1 strong hit. Also… How are our BONDs looking? I have one on Echo, only.
∃ two on Echo here.
⏻ one on Sparks, two on Winds.
⟡ A little unbalanced there, but it’ll work out.
PUSH THE CART (HAND)
(4 1) - 1 = 4
TRY AGAIN (HAND)
TRY AGAIN (HAND)
(6 4) - 1 = 9
⟡ At a certain point, that reads like the Kamen Rider announcer.
∃ creatures who spend so much time thinking about KR and nearly no time at all watching the damn series. i’m jealous of sci-fi characters who get to run media in local storage so they can binge a series and still do other stuff.
⏻ it’s simple! we go off the grid for a month and watch nothing but kamen rider and then come back!
⟡ Vetoed. We’d go insane before the first week ended, and also probably starve from “forgetting to eat”.
⏻ darn.
⟡ Anyway. With the three pairs of arms working together, the rounder and larger cart is rolled over and situated, eventually, in the tracks, and you can see that it connects itself once it’s sitting in the grooves. So it seems there’s no worries of it being sent off sideways, though given it’s a spiral in the first place.
∃ any Harms to dish out this time?
⟡ I considered it, but I think the only real cost to this is time. Not a lot of time, but time spent nonetheless. We are still, ostensibly, chasing after someone, and who knows how that distance changes the longer it takes to get there?
⏻ true! Sparks gets in the cart.
⟡ The door slides open after it’s unlatched, and you can re-latch it from the inside as the swinging bolt is symmetric. Winds staggers in after her, and immediately collapses on one of the seats.
∃ Echo follows after, looking around the thing to make sure it’s none the worse for wear after being rolled.
⟡ EYE roll! (slash j) It looks fine. As mentioned before, there are some controls near the door, clearly labeled.
Spark
”…I’m realizing there’s no way to guarantee nobody’s coming back up.”
Winds
”…Hell of a time to add that in, I’d say.”
Echo
Well, waiting around won't change our chances.It is going to hit the controls to take them down.Besides, there's nobody with business coming up right now, it's all at the festival, or down below!
⟡ The cart begins moving. A small set of clacks ring through the frame as the brakes disengage, and with a light grinding as it starts off, it slowly picks up a bit of speed.
Winds
“I… am going to try my best to not think about that.” /ey close /eir eyes and huddle as far into the corner of a small seat as one can reasonably get.
Spark
“I am going to try to not have a heart attack today.” She holds on tighter to her backpack, which is currently on the floor in front of her.
Echo
Would either of you like any backing music?Echo spins a tape between its fingers.
Spark
“Uh, just don’t raise my heart rate any more, yeah?”
⟡ Winds doesn’t respond.
∃ alright, Echo is going to quickly swap out the tape for something else before putting that one in the instrument, which at some point it had taken out of its bag, and playing through a long, meandering melody. it’s something that’s like if you took folk and pop and mixed them together, an altogether confusing mix of genres. it has something like 3-and-a-half bridges, and one of the verses is 10 minutes long. there is no guarantee this was ever a real song before Echo and the librarian restored it from scraps.
⏻ god i wish there was a track for this. we need to be writing these things down for whenever we have time and energy to work on music, i think it’d be glorious.
⟡ Maybe after the VTT. I don’t think it’ll happen this year.
⏻ drat. google dot com music commissions that accept absolute bullshit.
⟡ While she looks that up:
The center of the Cairn (name unknown, or not recorded).
The spiral continues down for a bit longer than Echo’s music does, maybe 15 minutes in total. Once the cart picks up what seems to be its top speed, it maintains that as it continues its descent, and with the nearly constant radial force from the continual turn, it’s a surprisingly smooth ride. “Down” is just a handful of degrees to the side of where it usually is, is all.
There is, however, no light within the cart, and as the sunlight cuts off and its reflections start to draw further away, the only light within here comes from Echo, both its street-light-like head and the Instrument it plays on. A vibrant disco of colors descends down into the darkness below the Cairn, until finally, with another set of clicks and another set of clacks, it starts slowing.
⟡ There is a very low level of light outside the cart, which seems to be coming from overhead. At the very end, with it coasting into its place, it makes a light collision with something else in front of it, and the echoes of the bump sound out for a few seconds.
Spark
“Fucking terrifying??? I’m so glad this has automated brakes??? What if we were still going fast.” She immediately starts unlocking the door and hauling herself and the backpack out.
Echo
If it had no brakes, we would have greater things to worry about colliding with than other carts,it replies, helping Winds up and then following Gnarlwood out.
⟡ Winds stumbles after, finally finding /eir footing again on the outside, though still a bit visibly disoriented in the near-complete darkness.
⏻ is there a single way forward, or anything we can pick up on immediately?
⟡ Well, going the direction of the track would just take you back up, since the hole seems to bottom out just below it. Reflections betray that it’s a damp place, and echoes betray that the water that does fall here slowly trickles off away from the hole, so that would be the only way to proceed here.
Echo
ii wonder how much this place was hollowed out by erosion.It scans the stone a few ways, and then begins leading the way “in”.It's clearly older than that, though anyone's guess *how* old.
Spark
“I try not to think about how old this place must be. Just puts me more on edge thinking about the Cairn collapsing, even though I know the Deities would—mostly—bother to let us know if that was a concern.” Her voice is still steady, but her footsteps are a bit jumpier down here, and she follows closely.
Winds
”…Well. I suppose that’s what he meant by you can’t get lost.” Winds is still tired, but manages to keep pace with the other two.
Spark
“‘He’? So the Dragon isn’t who told you about here?”
Winds
/ey scoff. “You think one would lay this low? No, the Shrine caretaker. Goes by Scarseer. Talked to a lot of Deities before settling into his position, and I’d bet he’s back to doing that across the mountains while I’m down here.”
Echo
Curious. Another free spirit?
Winds
“Eh. He’s like. You know how you are about music? He’s like that. Talked to travelers about their local Deities to scratch the itch, until everything went to shit.”
Echo
Ah, that sort of thing. ii can understand.
Spark
“Hm, so are you both looking for replacements? Or is he just doing that, y’know, because?”
Winds
“Dunno. We hadn’t talked much since the Shrine went empty.”
Spark
“Ah.”
⟡ As Echo slowly traces the group’s way through the rocks, the single passageway begins to catch reflected voices from somewhere further in. Indistinct, un-parseable, but voices all the same. The passage itself stays mostly the same, until the walls suddenly fall away into a cavern. A single other light bounces off the newly-vaulting ceiling, a pale blue torch in the distance and a few silhouettes.
Echo
Echo stops for a moment before continuing in, cautiously.
Oh. That was a bit of a shock.
Spark
”…Woah.”
⟡ The light shakes for a moment, and the shapes of the shadows imply someone has turned to look at you.
???
”…Is that you, Spark-run? Who’d you bring with you?”
⏻ oh, is that already the Postmaster?
⟡ So it would seem! It’s hard to make our her features in the light, but her voice seems familiar to Gnarlwood, and at least her white, braided hair responds well to any sort of light.
Spark
“Oh, yeah! Uh, long story. I’d have thought you were a lot farther in by now, honestly.” She hops over to the other group, dragging Echo along by the hand to make sure there aren’t any rock formations to trip on.
⟡ Smart! There are actually some stalactites and stalagmites in here, but not many. It’s about as smooth as the rest of the passage until now otherwise.
∃ off we go! also that does lead more credence to this being made rather than formed, but i doubt we’ll have anyone to ask about that here.
⏻ yeah no Courier would know much about what happens down here, unless the Postmaster is secretly also a Deity. which… is that possible?
⟡ …I think it’d have to be a real edge case, with how they’re written, so a safe assumption is that she isn’t. Also the whole mask thing.
⏻ oh true. why do i keep forgetting about the mask thing?
⟡ Gotta go back to Autism School to re-learn about masks.
⏻ that sounds atrocious, i will purposefully fail my entrance exams.
Postmaster
“No, we’ve been making preparations. Did those punks not tell you anything?”
Spark
“Punks, multiple? I only ran into 8th—”
Postmaster
She sighs, loudly. “‘Course they pushed it off on him. I’m trying to get everyone more involved in all this, and they’d rather run off to a different town each and party all week. Guess I’ll have a word with each of ‘em when we’re back topside.” She shifts, and looks at the other two. “Friends of yours? Why not just bring your own torch?”
Spark
“Like I said, long story. Echo here is traveling with us, and Winds apparently” with the intonation of rolling her eyes “knew about the Underwalk already and planned to come down anyway. So our little hike is rolled up in this.” She gestures to her backpack. “Anything I should do with this, by the way?”
⟡ The others in her group offer small gestures of greeting, but don’t seem interested in butting in.
Postmaster
“Ah, right. Well, questions for them later, let’s get this explained. You know about the market, right?” That question is rhetorical, and she continues on. “That has a few things that have been prepared from our side for the market, and it specifically needs to be brought down by a Courier, not myself. And ideally a new one each time, but you know how things are when there aren’t many, so it just slowly makes its way around based on when this happens.”
Spark
“Oh! Okay, I did think it was weird you wouldn’t have already brought this down. Guess that explains that. So, am I like, involved in the market? Or just bringing it down?”
Postmaster
She shrugs. “Up to you. …You’ll see when you get there, it’s faster than explaining. C’mon, let’s get going.” She says that to both groups, and the person bearing the torch starts moving.
∃ Echo will wait for everyone to file in and walk for a minute, before speaking up.
Echo
Ah, is there anyone here by the name of Argeum? We've also got something to return.
⟡ The light stumbles for a second.
Argeum
“What? Huh? OH! Is it the radios? You came down from the North, then!” Their voice is energetic, but it’s hard to see them right now. “How did that go?”
Echo
Em. Well. One of them remains with those Cats, ii fear. We couldn't really risk tangling much longer, there's no knowing what a Ruin has in it.
Argeum
“Ahh, fair fair fair. Still, I appreciate even the two of them finding their way back to me. We’ll be very free during the market, so no rush handing them over in the dark!”
Echo
Alright. If it's no trouble, what were you doing with them out there, that they aren't urgent? These things aren't all that common.
Argeum
“Ah? Oh, you know. Research.” The light waves around as they gesture, and they make a small exclamation as it bumps a lower-sitting bit of the cavern wall. “We were poking around in that Ruin a little bit when the Cats snuck up. I’m surprised they just grabbed the radios, though… I wonder if they’ve learned to see value after robbing one too many traveler.”
Echo
ii don't think that's the case? Well, it could be. But they seemed to enjoy what they were doing to the,and it waves its own hands for a moment before remembering that nobody can really see anything down here right now,the construction of that place. It was reactive? To something?
Argeum
“Huh? What? Strange. Now I’ll have to hire someone to follow me back there and check it out. Wonder what it’s made of…”
Spark
“Whatever it was, it was kinda lighting up on its own further in.” Sparks chimes in again. “Never really seen anything like it, but I don’t really make a point to go poking around in Ruins.”
Argeum
“You should, some time! They’re fascinating.”
⏻ She makes a non-committal vocalization.
???Soon enough, the light from the torch is met with a similar light up ahead, billowing and bouncing off a larger cavern. Voices, too, can be heard indistinctly, as if fighting against water. With one final turn, a wall opens over something that can only be the market people have talked about. Masks and shapes mill about, some in a room-spanning slow dance or procession, some sitting down playing games, some negotiating a trade. None look up at the new entrance, and the sound somehow still remains as confusing in here as it was before.
∃ oh that’s fun. Echo is going to try and speak up, to see if it affects everyone.
⟡ It doesn’t seem to stop you from talking to someone right next to you, but it’s practically impossible to make anything out from more than a few steps away. The front-to-back of this little line we have going is already basically beyond the limit half the time, as a rough metric.
⏻ are the Postmaster and the others wearing masks? or is it just that there are a lot of Deities down here?
⟡ Hmm. Gnarlwood would certainly recognize a couple masks by description, and it’s a fair assumption that most of the Deities within the valley that could make it here have shown up, major and minor alike. Though, Weekend doesn’t seem to be here.
∃ sigh, they’re probably still working on one of those pathside garden thingies.
⟡ Would have to ask next time you found them. Anyway, the Postmaster will take over the front, leading the group to one of the places on the ground that has a square of rope but no-one inside it, and beckon Gnarlwood over.
Postmaster
“Alright, open that up. We’re going to lay out the stuff from the post offices.”
⟡ You will also notice that a couple of the others also have backpacks. Argeum just has the torch.
Spark
“Are these others from outside the valley?” she’ll ask while she unfolds everything carefully. “I still don’t recognize them, and I’ve been around quite a bit.”
Postmaster
“Oh, I suppose introductions are in order, now that we’re out of the dark?” She lays a palm on her chest. Much like the other Couriers we’ve seen so far, she has the green and beige and black outfit colors, but it’s much simpler, with barely any pockets or belts or pouches. She has blonde hair tied back in a ponytail under her hat, a medium tone of skin that looks more ashy in the light down here, and her Mark hangs off her belt, in a design that looks to be a simplistic map of the valley in monochrome. “For the two behind my little Courier here, I am Ivia.” Her hand goes to Argeum (the nerdy type with short black hair, dark skin, and one spectacle cracked, standing in the awkward way you do when you want to go walk around a new place but don’t want to piss off the owners or security or make the host upset), then an Imp (noticeable by the horn curling through their red-streaked hair, with a more relaxed glare at the room and a short nod of acknowledgement, and a skin tone that is either the reflection of red on gold or the reverse) and some type of Auditor (a dappled fur and long ears that could either be a rabbit’s or a deer’s—the tail would look much the same either way). “Argeum you apparently know, and that’s O and PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks.”
⏻ gen, i’d apologize for breaking your naming system but i think we’re 4 chapters too late for that.
⟡ Hey, they at least do have motifs and gigs!
∃ will we get to learn them? now there’s the question.
⟡ Ano, eto, bleh. Ask! Besides, this is a conversation between Couriers, anyway.
⏻ so true, oomfie.
Spark
“Ah, I see. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintances.” She gives a short nod of her own toward each of the others as she works, and then swings her head in the direction of the other two. “If Ivia didn’t say it already, I go by Spark-run-gnarlwood, and I’ve brought my friends Handspun Winds of Repose and Echo—Wish Upon an Echo of a Star. I don’t know why I always say the wrong name first.”
⟡ I don’t think I can express how strange it is for her to call me that.
Echo
Well, such is the way of nicknames. I'm Fool-ing around as you do, and Winds has business down here, but what brings the others of you down here instead of the fun top-side? If that's not intruding.
⟡ O speaks up first, indicating with a glance to Ivia that they don’t mind.
O
“Looking for something that I can only get here. It tends to come through every few markets. That’s about all I can say, ‘sides I usually deal in gossip rather than the physical stuff. You Fools are pretty nice to hang around. Far side of the mountains West.”
Echo
Oh! Maybe one day ii'll pay a visit. Still a lot of music to sort through before ii'm ready to leave for longer than this trip.
O
“Well, enjoy the hike.” She starts strolling off. “Shame there’s no rail there.”
Spark
“I feel like I’d be so much more stressed if I had to ride one of those things all over the place for deliveries. Let’s never make more of them?” She looks up at Ivia, pleading face emoji.
Ivia
“Hey, be glad it isn’t my decision. There’s too much Cairn in the way, and too much Mist besides.”
Spark
“Yay! Thank you, Mist.”
Winds
“Is the mist natural?” Winds finally speaks again, seeming to have caught /eir breath. “I’ve always wondered. It feels so…constant, in a way the weather outside the valley isn’t.”
PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks
“Mm, depends on how you define that.” They don’t seem to be preparing to walk around or do much of anything besides sit back on their haunches, and only have a few small orb-shaped dioramas or some-such in front of them. “It’s a natural process, but not because of the weather.”
⟡ Winds just sort of stares at them, confused.
PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks
They roll their neck around. “Well, look. The water comes down here, right? And then it goes back up as mist. I don’t really know everything behind it. There’s some sort of, what’s-it-called. Construct? Built into the whole place, or maybe buried under it? The heart still runs, so the water that filters down through the rocks and falls deeper gets heated again and seeps back up. There’s like seven Ruins around down here, but please don’t try and poke around in them unless you know what you’re doing.”
Spark
Spark pauses. “Wait, so we’ve been living on top of one of those ancient things this whole time??? Isn’t that, like, concerning to anyone? If it can heat the water back up to that extent?”
PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks
“Oh, no no.” They wave a hand to dismiss the thought. “A A r r l a and A L r r a a—I’ll explain them in a minute, they’re important—work with it to keep things moving, and maybe there are more? These caverns go on for miles, and some of them do end up back at the surface but again please do not go caving in the Ruins unless you absolutely know what you’re doing and have plenty of food and time.”
Spark
“That really doesn’t reassure me as much as I’d like, but thanks.” By now, she’s laid out everything from the bag. It’s a lot of different books and packages, each labeled from a different person or town and about or containing a different thing. A recipe, a diary, a songbook, a set of pressed plants, a pot, an Instrument, a radio.
Echo
Are these donations, offerings, or trade?Echo peers over the different items.ii still don't really understand this market.
∃ also, for the record and the reader, Echo uses ‘grey’ and PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks uses ‘gray’. we do not have the energy to find a specific hex code for dappled sunlight right now. they are at least ideologically different if not digitally.
PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks
“Well, it’s sort of all of them at different times! Some Deities are used to receiving some offerings from the towns or gifts from friends a longer ways away, but we also do some trading if one of them comes up with an item they’d like to hand off. It really depends on the year. The important thing is the tradition, because it’s not really a good idea to get in the way of a working system for no reason, and when there’s a risk of things sinking into the ground, well, that’s a pretty important thing to avoid, right?”
Winds
”…I’ve heard of A A r r l a before, but who is A L r r a a?”
⟡ Which one of us came up with these names, again?
⏻ nobody check the logs.
PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks
“…the Deities of Sinking and Boiling, respectively. A L r r a a is more known down here as a reciprocal to A A r r l a than above the ground, but I believe the Mistwalk is heavily respectful of A L r r a a the way the Cairn is more focused on A A r r l a.”
Winds
“Well, I’m glad it’s not a Dragon situation. I have a bad habit of assuming the worst right now.”
PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks
They look extremely shocked. “Oh, heavens. Even if there was one with good intentions somehow, it certainly wouldn’t support this cycle properly. No, I believe this is just a case of names being very old. Some say they used to be different.”
Spark
“Ah, speaking of. Was it Trea?”
Winds
”…Yes. Are they the Deity of Safe Travels, or Safe Returns? Or something else entirely?”
PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks
They curl up in thought for a moment. ”…Safe Returns, I believe. That’s one I haven’t seen in some time, though. I’m not even sure where their Shrine is. I do know they dress—or at least used to—like a frozen evergreen tree, with a mask that looked like wind chimes moving in unison.”
Winds
“I suppose I’ll ask if I see them. I do need to walk around a bit myself, anyhow.” /ey turn to Echo. “Will you be staying here, or coming with?”
Echo
...Well, if it's all the same, ii think remaining here. ii have quite a bit of interest in the parleying (or whatever word is most appropriate for that), and less in the meeting Deities. ii don't think many of them write music.
Winds
“Uh, if I meet one that does, I’ll send them this way?” And then /ey turn and head into the crowd.
∃ are we splitting the party?
⟡ Well, essentially, but we’ll come back around to Winds later. I want to get the montage of visits done here first.
∃ alrighty, time to Reccetear it up!
⏻ walnut bread.
∃ 48g.
⏻ sold!
⟡ Remaining debt: 195832g.
∃ fuck my stupid walnut bread life.
⏻ the first one to stop by and do more than glance is a Deity that spends a lot of time time in the Mistwalk, who PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks recognizes as Logi, Deity of MorningDew, dressed in all black with a silver teardrop mask. They offer the most red sphere to Logi, who picks it up and asks what this one does. PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks responds that it is good for “collecting songs”, which Logi takes as worth enough to exchange, and places down what looks like a folded scythe. PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks hefts it a few times, revealing it to instead be some sort of pole-arm Instrument with an attached windsock, nods, and concludes the deal. Logi saunters off, and the Instrument is places at the back of the square, evidently not for re-trading.
∃ Echo watches this with great interest, and after the trade is concluded, finally takes out its own Instrument again and searches for a good tune here. This one is a little more close to math rock than psych rock, trying to feed off the ambient vibe of the area and play with the noises that aren’t quite making sounds.
⏻ Sparks sees three different Deities pass across the next 15 minutes or so that she gets up and offers things to, all ones that frequent or reside in the Cairn(‘s topside). For Altriusm, of Evening Stillness, she has a custom-made “lava-lamp” that holds cubes and responds to radio frequencies. For Mœbius, of Exiles, she has a well-made pocketbook and a packet of letters from one of the other towns. For Midnight, the local Deity of Cats, she hoists over something that she can only describe as “a cairn for Cats” that needs to be put together elsewhere once it finds a proper place. The Postmaster gets up and chases someone down, then seems to get caught in a conversation that drags her away.
∃ Echo keeps to itself the comments of “won’t the Cats just make a mess of that anyway?” and continues playing.
⏻ Conduit, Deity of Foundations comes along to try and trade for the remaining two of PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks’s spheres, but after some back and forth, only gets one. The exchanged item is a promise, written down and quickly pocketed.
⏻ O returns shortly after, with a small sack on their shoulder and a very slight but noticeable glint in their eyes. They sit down near Echo and relax.
∃ Echo eventually gives up on completely understanding whatever Songcraft is at play in this place (it seems random rather than deterministic, which isn’t as good for music) and sits back for a while.
⟡ Winds never seems to return.
⏻ as Spark’s pile of items reaches about halfway, she leans over and asks: “So how big is this place, anyway?” O responds: “Easily 2 hours deep if you’re going the whole way. I got a bit lucky with finding what I needed.” Sparks looks a little more relieved, but still nervous as she keeps sitting there.
∃ Echo finally decides to ask PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks what the spheres actually are. The answer is confusing and has something to do with specific combinations of Songcraft and handiwork to store different things. “Like a snow globe,” they offer tentatively, and then shrug when Echo reveals the library had plenty of those and it doesn’t really help it understand. It offers a binder of reconstructed music in exchange for the last sphere, but they tell it that this is something they can only give to Deities due to some prior agreement or other. They say that maybe next time they can get an extra one, or maybe send one to the library.
⏻ The market grows quieter as the dissonance seems to switch over to a deadening. There still seem to be just as many moving slowly through, entrenched in long, winding conversations that keep those involved moving just through the need to not sit down while it happens.
⟡ Neither the Postmaster nor Winds have returned, still.
⏻ A small chime rings out from PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks’s pockets. They pull out a timer, mention that it’s evening, and pull out a sleeping bag to begin cozying up for the night. The Deities show no indication that they need to do the same, but another mortal passes by and offers a basic mat for the others. Sparks has the mat she’s sitting on.
∃ Echo accepts. We never did really get into if Armatures need sleep, but this is at least part of the act of being mortal, so why not?
⏻ O will also accept, not moving too much otherwise.
⟡ The Postmaster returns around when midnight would be, though that’s really impossible to tell down here. The light makes no accommodation for time, and that seems to not be important for this market.
⟡ Winds, though, is still missing in the morning.
∃ The cavern is winding, but not so much that you’d get lost. It feels like it was deliberately made simpler in this area, and that’s probably true. Or maybe that’s also in the Songcraft at work here? The dissonance seems to have some directional play to it, with a center, much like a storm has its eye. Though you’d have to break through the wall either way, and that feels like it would be a breach of ettiquette.
⏻ The Deities that pass have varied masks as always, varied forms too, but none of them stand out as the one that Winds is here to visit. The small figure weaves through the crowd slowly, with none sparing more than a momentary glance save for one, quite far into the market. The voice is low, and would carry. Here, it sticks, unable to permeate the noise.
???
“Now there is one I would not expect to see down here.”
⏻ A bat alights on Winds’ shoulder, before that grip slips into a loose hug as the bat shifts into a humanoid form. Pale skin, dark eyes, and rough brown hair in an outfit of mostly leather that is styled close to what we would recognize as steampunk. This is 5V, and Winds knows she lives on one of the floating islands.
Winds
”…” It takes a second for /em to recognize here, wherein /ey stand as uncomfortably as it is possible to do without fully running away. “Oh. What brings you down here?”
5V
“What, you forgot? It’s my gig to visit this place. The Skylords can’t fit down here, so I bring them back some stories and tales.”
Winds
Winds considers the idea of trying to squeeze one of the Skylords down here, and accepts that that’s a very reasonable reason to send someone else down. “It must have slipped my mind. I haven’t slept well, since… Well, you know.”
5V
She leans around and stares at /eir eyes carefully. “Oh, damn, I hadn’t noticed in the light, you really aren’t looking so hot.” She loosens her hug and grabs Winds by the hand. “Come on, I’ll make sure you don’t keel over while you do your hunt. Which is I assume what got you stupid enough to leave the mountains.”
Winds
“And who is it that told me the half of the story?”
5V
“I wonder? I’ll have to have a word with her if I ever catch her.”
⏻ is Winds looking for someone in specific? or just a vibe?
⟡ In a word, or something like it, A L r r a a.
⏻ ohhhh. the head of the whole operation. or one of them.
∃ at what point does an operation have enough heads to be considered a hydra?
⏻ wouldn’t it depend on the whole heads-regenerate-at-the-neck thing?
∃ Dark Souls didn’t do that.
⏻ ah, yes, the famous Greek Epic Dark Souls.
∃ yeah. you’re Odysseus, and that’s your journey home.
⏻ i’ll wait for the three-hour video essay on it before i decide whether or not i agree with that bit.
∃ we can’t even record a half-hour video lately, how am i ever going to shitpost properly…?
⏻ the cavern winds downhill to a lower and larger area, where Deities seem to have set up both small temporary Shrines and have one very “aggregate”-looking one in the center. it might be like show-and-tell with how they’re all milling about looking at each other’s.
⟡ …Winds will pause and watch this for a minute.
5V
“What in the hells are they doing this time?” She notices Winds stop, and turns to observe the whatever-it-is.
Winds
”…This isn’t normal?”
5V
“No?? It really is normally just a market. Someone must have put another idea into their heads this time. I’ve heard they’ve had some friendly competitions before, but I don’t think it’s for anything more than trading by other means. Those Shrine-looking-things… Are they just like dioramas?”
Winds
“Have you seen the real things before?”
5V
“Eh… Hard to say. They look kinda familiar, but I’m not about to go walk down in case they’re judging entrants or something. Best to not get too friendly with Deities that aren’t ones you live with, you know how it is.”
⟡ Winds does not, in fact, know how it is, but doesn’t say that. /ey do start walking again.
∃ the sound begins to dull here, but visibly nothing changes. The cavern loops around once, and it either returns to the start, or continues down.
⟡ Winds pauses at the crossroads before turning to head down.
5V
“Hey, wait, that’s—”
Winds
“I know.”
5V
”…” She considers letting /em go alone, but thinks better of it.
⏻ the corridor down is more damp as it continues, and less lit. One of the walls opens momentarily into what must be a huge cavern, with lights flickering in the distance and who-knows-how-far to the bottom, and then closes again before the corridor ends. There is one last large open area down here, and it would seem to be its own Shrine. There is a three-fold door left ajar, with each set of doors inside the others adorned and engraved with different things. The smallest in the center blazes a red-gold, and mechanical motifs. The middle rises up with arrows emblazoned on a silver. The outermost and largest is a mix of oxidized copper and bronze, somehow giving the feel of mossy creep over land. Several Deities glance up and stare at the duo for once, but none of them bother to speak up or indicate that this is something that can’t or shouldn’t be done.
∃ a singular light in the middle of the path forward seems powered by electricity. the deadening effect has all but vanished. Whatever Songcraft is at work down here to keep the sound managed is either designed to avoid this gate, or cannot pass beyond it.
Winds
”…You don’t have to follow.”
5V
“Yeah? And miss the story again?” She pushes /em forward. “C’mon. Show me what you came here for.”
⟡ Winds nods, and walks through.
⏻ it takes another long while of walking, though straight down. the walls get more and more wet, and before long, the pair are treading through a constant puddle. the drip, splash, echo of this part of the cavern feels imposing in the lack of other noise. 5V reaches out a couple times to make sure the walls are still there, and they are, just running with rivulets that reflect the singular line of cold, pale, blue light in the floor.
⟡ Winds keeps walking. You could mistake this as fatigue or nervousness, but /ey were in fact told of this corridor, and this is what /ey were looking for.
⏻ the line doesn’t split, but for a moment, it looks like it becomes fluid… though the motion of water betrays the diffraction within seconds. it plunges off the edge of something, into a deeper water below, and may even come back up after who-knows-how-far underneath. 5V is treading very carefully behind, very slowly.
∃ another voice finds you here, either from the side or the water. It’s slippery, it’s light, it’s ever-so-deep. It’s magnetic.
A L r r a a
”…And you are?”
Winds
/ey stumble for a moment, steady /emself, and reply. “Handspun Winds of Repose, Tailor to Knap, Deity of the Shrine of Saferest. Such is how I was told to announce myself.” /eir voice trembles a little, speaking Knap’s name, due to the journey, due to proximity.
A L r r a a
”…And you are?” The voice is unchanged, but it is clear that 5V is being asked the same question.
5V
“Fi-5V, adherent to the Skylords and Gossiper of Godly Affairs. I am familiar with Winds and /eir matters due to frequenting Saferest in the past.”
A L r r a a
“Very well.” The voice goes silent, and the water stirs. A figure steps up out of its very edge and turns to face the pair, with a mask full of teardrop-shaped droplets and a gradient from silver to purple. It stands easily double Winds’ height, and is draped in a single light layer of some sort of fabric that only shows the silhouette of a form in the small lighting and the clinging nature of moisture. “We were told you may pay this one a visit soon. It seems now is that time.” It sits, or rather collapses, at the edge of the deep. “Speak.”
Winds
/ey take a half-step forward, open /eir mouth, close it again, open it again, and force the words into the sentence /ey know must be spoken, even if someone unexpected is there to hear them. “I wish to take the place of Knap.”
⏻ oooooooooh snap.
∃ there’s a splash from behind as 5V reacts, but she isn’t able to find her own words to speak up.
A L r r a a
”…To what end?” Its tone is not judgemental, but inquisitive.
Winds
”…I have tried to live as the one who helped her die, and I could not. I have tried to live as the one who killed her, and I could not. I know it is not my place to seek her seat, but in my dreams, I see that day. I see that seat, that bed, that fabric.” /ey fall to the ground /emself, and grasp at memories. “There is so much of myself in there still, of the craft I have woven, the Song I sung for her and those visiting. I cannot put it to rest, without also putting myself to rest. But who is left? I cannot kill her again, I cannot kill myself for that would accomplish nothing, I cannot find the end for all of this. That twisted motif shackles me, and I cannot escape it.”
∃ 5V shifts, nervous, still unsure.
⏻ A L r r a a moves closer, somehow.
A L r r a a
“It is understood.” The pull of its speech is even more evident, as is the fact that this is just a by-product of its role in the cycle responsible for this place. “There is but one thing you must do.”
Winds
”…And that is?” /eir expression is twisted in sadness, trying to find the hope to grab on to.
A L r r a a
“Call your friends here. We will give you a chance.” It looks up. “Send the one behind you to call for them.”
Winds
”…” /ey are visibly confused, but look back at 5V and nod. “An armature named Echo with three lights in its head, and a Courier named Gnarlwood with the Postmaster and two others. Nearer the entrance.”
∃ She nods, hesitantly, and then dashes off. Her footsteps vanish before too long, and in their place a bat flies through the cave.
⟡ Winds turns back to the Deity.
Winds
“What else?”
⟡ PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks wakes, though it is not yet time for another alarm from their clock. Someone else has alighted on their sleeping bag, for the second time. Perhaps it is a passing familiarity with others of their blood, or just a logical guess cutting through the murk of sleep-addled thoughts, but they manage to eke out a “Aah? Who?” before rustling around and shoving up, also waking the others.
∃ Echo doesn’t respond, but the lights on its head cycle once and then all light up, previously off. Its head then focuses on the new face.
⟡ O shows no sign of getting up, and is probably ignoring the situation or sleeping through it. 5V reveals herself, and asks the only question.
5V
Are you the Echo and Gnarlwood Winds knows? I was told to come get you.
⟡ She seems on edge.
Echo
That we are.It swings the instrument case around to poke at Gnarlwood.Did something happen?
Spark
“Wha. Whuh? Huh? Who?”
Echo
Something's up with Winds, or maybe not.
Spark
”???????”
5V
“Ah, well, um, it’s faster to just, bring you both there.” She gestures with two thumbs. “I don’t think I can actually explain it myself.” She claps her hands together in apology to the other two. “Sorry to steal your Courier, this is sortofkindamaybe an order and I don’t think they’ll be gone too long?” And then she starts walking off, looking back to make sure Echo and Gnarlwood are following.
PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks
“My Courier.” They sound positively bewildered, and just lie back down.
∃ Echo is going to get right up and get going.
⏻ Sparks struggles to her feet and manages to shout a small apology of her own before following.
⟡ With the flow of the crowd against everyone, even this late into the night, 5V has no choice but to lead them around the ‘long’ way, past the strange competition of sorts and around. Whatever it is is still going on, and there seems to be a 12-Deity argument or discussion in one corner. One of the Shrine-like things is entirely missing.
Echo
So, this is still sort of. Concerning? Anyway, who are you?
5V
“Oh! Where are my manners! Must have left them behind down there haHA you can call me 5V! I met Winds a while back in the mountains, and we kept in touch until the uh. I presume you both know about the all-that-stuff.” She looks back again. “You two?”
Spark
“Uh.” She shakes her head to try and drive off the sleepiness. “Deliveries. Winds was about the only person I talked to consistently.”
Echo
Correspondence. ii also stayed briefly, once, and /ey have done a lot of good work on my outfits.It does a small spin in the new one.This one was just done in the town above, Wider North Rock.
5V
“Oh, woah! I haven’t seen /em work in a while, I forgot those hands aren’t just good for pillows and—Oh I guess there’s probably a reason /ey stopped that. Hm.”
Echo
Probably.
5V
“Hm I should keep up with my friends more often.”
Echo
That tends to be a good idea. Are you not the type to write letters?
5V
“Ah, no, uhm. I live on one of the floating islands? And for whatever reason this valley here doesn’t have any flying Couriers, so. I have to schedule sending it down, bring it myself which can be dicey, or drop it on someone’s head and I don’t really want to be responsible for terminal-velocity-related murder. Aha.”
Echo
Aha.
Spark
“Are you usually this, uh. Scared?”
5V
“Noope! Not in the slightest!” She gestures to the path downward. “Today is possibly the worst I’ve been spooked since the first day I saw a Skylord up close. And much harder to deal with now that I’m too old to bawl my lungs out at a slight inconvenience! Yay!”
Spark
“Oh. Wow. Yeah that does sound pretty rough.”
5V
“Ain’t so bad once you get used to ‘em. Definitely still scarier than the average Deity, but it’s like. Awe, you know? There’s not a whole lot out there that feels as majestic and like a force of nature that isn’t, well, nature. It’s sick. We’ll figure out how to take you up some time and you can see what it’s like.”
Echo
ii would be too afraid of falling and losing my pieces, but ii'll keep that in mind?
Spark
“Uh yeah once the next runners grow up enough, maybe. I don’t have any plans to leave the ground right now.”
5V
“See, no offense, but this is why I always got along with Winds more.”
Echo
ii thought /ey didn't like the sky?
5V
“Hm? No, not as much as others. But it’s still home in much the same way it’s home to me, even though I spend all my time in caves and under roofs and sleeping wherever the hell I find myself. It’s something about the spirit of the thing, I guess.”
⟡ The trio has arrived at The Big Triple Door.
5V
“Just a bit farther now, though this is more spooky.”
Spark
“I have been spooked to shit ever since we climbed into that railcar thing. I will process this later. I’m fine.”
Echo
ii have been processing since we got here and am still probably spooked. so that makes two of us.
5V
“Okay, good, I’m not alone in that! Group panic attack. Cool.”
⟡ When they arrive, Winds and A L r r a a are sitting together at the edge of the deep. A L r r a a turns around.
A L r r a a
“These are the friends. Goooood.” Again, everyone feels the pull, in and downward, as it speaks.
⟡ 5V takes a couple steps back, and gives a pair of thumbs up at whoever happens to look in her direction.
Echo
...what? This entire valley needs to learn how to explain things, ii swear.
Spark
“Honestly, yeah. Um, hi? I’m not very familiar with who’s who down here, or what is specifically going on with Winds—”
A L r r a a
“A chance.” It cuts her off. “A chance was asked, and a chance shall be given. But it cannot be given alone.” It begins to undulate into the water. “The wind cannot be caught the dream cannot be remembered the dream must be grounded the wind must be named.” It pauses, and swings all the way back around. “To make the chance requires a keep-sake.”
Spark
“Look I really don’t want to be rude but could you please explain what is going on?”
Winds
“I need to move on.” Winds sounds fainter than ever right now, as if /ey’d collapse any moment, but /ey stand up and face the others. /eir face is distraught, but at the same time, resolute. “It’s the only way.”
Spark
“The only way for goddamn WHAT?” It’s an impressive feat to shout with a Deity practically in your face, but she manages it! “What are you doing! What ‘chance’ is this and why did we have to come down here at whatever bizarre hour of the morning it is!”
A L r r a a
“Fine, fine. This one shall enlighten.” It pulls back and floats with its mask just poking above the water. “Your friend is, unfortunately, very stuck. Perhaps there are other ways, other places, but it is our opinion that this will not stand for very long before something worse happens. If a dreamer is not allowed to sleep, the dream may sleep for them, yes.”
Echo
...So...What is this chance, really?Echo looks out over the water.ii can't see it being pleasant.
A L r r a a
“A matter of per-spec-tive, dear dreamless one.”
⟡ I guess here I will canonize for this session that Armatures don’t dream, but it’s a question to ask later.
A L r r a a
“The mind is a curious thing, and pleasantry is even more so. But that is neither here nor there. No, the chance is not pleasant. To sever the inheritance, we will send your friend through the cycle. It is the Reverie’s will that will determine what happens after. Will the wind rejoin the air, or will it find its rest again?” The water chuckles.
Spark
“Wait. You’re putting Winds… What, in there?” She points at the deeper part of the water. “Winds, what the hell are you thinking?” She almost rushes forward, but stops herself as she considers what would probably happen if things came to blows.
Winds
“I’m not! I haven’t been. I can’t think of anything that isn’t letting this go. She cursed me as much as she did herself, Spark, and it’s just gotten worse. I can’t run from my thoughts even with friends. I don’t think I have it in me to look for any other options.”
Spark
“So, what, you jump in a lake and boom everything’s better? You die, or something, and everything’s better?”
Winds
“It’s not death,” /ey answer with a tight smile. “I know death, and that wouldn’t fix what went wrong now. It’s not life, either, but enough of what she was to start fixing things. Or at least properly put everything to rest.”
Echo
...You're actually trying to take the place of a Deity? Is that...The words ‘possible’, and ‘allowed’, and ‘okay’ float unspoken.
Winds
“I’ve been caught up in what she was, and what she did, ever since she deviated. I don’t know if this is… I don’t know what this is. I thought that maybe telling you both in detail would help. But I’m still stuck. I’ve been stuck for years. I need to be the one to end the Shrine myself, and I can’t do it without being what she was, and if not then I’m going to evaporate one of these days because I can’t ever stop thinking about that.”
Spark
”…I really don’t like this.” Her voice is almost shaking, both from anger and the idea of fighting a Deity as pivotal to her home as this. “I doubt you’d let me drag you back.”
Winds
“There’s so little of me left.” /ey gesture at /eir outfit, and even in the dim light, it’s true that /ey haven’t really brought much of anything along this journey.
Spark
”…You knew this was going to happen from the start.” It’s somewhere between a question and an accusation.
Winds
/ey shake /eir head. “I was told a few things. First, where to find A L r r a a. Second, what to say. Third, that this is possibly the only thing in this valley that can help me lose the weight I’ve been given to carry. I had time to think, and I realized that I didn’t think I had time for anything else.” /ey bow, deeply. “I’m really sorry it had to be lies to the end. But I did enjoy this trip, and I hope we can go on another one—”
Spark
“Fuck that. Echo, please tell me I’m not losing it.”
Echo
ii'm not licensed to do that, but ii can confirm the conversation did just happen as you heard it.
Spark
“Fuck. Winds, you have really managed to piss me off twice this week. I hope you know, and I say that because I know you know, what you’re telling me. You want us, the two of us, to just stand here and—effectively, sure—watch you get thrown into a lake after not telling us damn near anything for at least a year?? Why did you even bring us down here, huh? Why do I need to watch? I am not signing off on this.”
Echo
...More emotive than ii would have been, but the sentiment is shared. ii have no intention to approve this, even if ii cannot disapprove of it in any real capacity. Why are we here, right now? And why are you still here, if you intend to not be?
A L r r a a
“Always in such a rush. Good for the denizens to have friends, yes.” It speaks up again, still not having moved since its last motion. Just bobbing on the surface. “You are aware that a Reverie with no ties to the ground may simply float away, yes? Yes.” It doesn’t wait for confirmation. “Much the same way, there must be something that a person did not have and was not that can serve to hold things in place.” A long, spindly hand arises, and points at the duo-and-a-half. “It is possible for many things to be lost, but if enough connection is present, then perhaps the disentangled Reverie may still remember you.” The water chuckles again. “And if not, it will appear much the same. Veeeery dangerous things, dealing with Dragons.”
Echo
What? Are you asking for a keepsake, or a memorial item? ii would normally whisper this, but Deities seem to be very good at being incomprehensible.
A L r r a a
“Aha! Such honesty. Yes. To bury the obsession, you must bury the person, that the person may bury the Shrine. There is too much death involved to go about this any other way, we fear. Sink the obsession, raise the person, diffuse the Shrine. It will live through the cycle that keeps your Cairn running, in fact, and then we will all see who appears on the other side.”
⏻ i’ve been trying to figure out if i can roll VOICE for something, but it feels like i’d just be debating a Deity and also a friend who is actively falling to pieces.
∃ how did we end up here i thought this was (looks at the title of the thing) ohhhh that was the vibe all along, right.
⏻ we’re so full of joy and elegy, chat.
⟡ Aren’t we? But yes, I think the discussion is sort of at its ending point. This is where things have ended up, so we’ll play it out and cry about it later.
Winds
”…If I am to choose between living like this and ceasing to live at all, I’d take the latter. I’m at least glad that I could tell you about things before now. I really did think about walking down here myself, more than a few times.” /ey laugh. “Though I guess that wouldn’t have worked anyway.”
Echo
And there's nothing we could have done beforehand, to help?The question is sincere, if sarcastic.
Winds
“Company was helpful. But nowhere near enough. Imagine if your librarian replaced all the books with radios tuned to the same frequency and left. Imagine if the Postmaster suddenly revoked everyone’s mark and vanished. There’s something fundamental missing from me, from my life, and the only chance I have of fixing it means trading myself for it. Pretty cheap bargain, at this rate.” /ey try to stand, but fall backwards, just barely staying on the lip.
⏻ Sparks rushes forward a few paces, and approaches more slowly once she sees /ey didn’t actually fall in.
∃ Echo as well.
Winds
“I tried to sleep again, down here, you know? It’s actually quite comfortable when you stop noticing the water. Quiet, too. But the past few nights I haven’t even been able to pass out properly. At first it was just bad dreams, then nightmares. I thought it was trauma, and maybe it still is. But I do think I lost too much when she died, or there’s still a hole in me somewhere, or something. It’s all gone too wrong. I should have stayed out of it. But how could I? Am I still trapped in her dreams?” /ey push /emself up again. “I’m trapped between three worlds, now. What’s one more to add to the pile, if it keeps me here at all?”
Spark
”…I’m gonna curse you out when I head back, and send a strongly worded letter every week to that Shrine. I’m gonna get someone to make automated copies.”
Echo
...Do you want any music?
Winds
“For once, yes. I think I miss music.”
∃ Echo sits down in the shallow water and begins piecing a melody together. It’s rough, but it’s reminiscent of the tune Winds hummed in the shop up above the day or two before. A mournful tune in a joyful key, like a dour folk song found something to be happy about.
Echo
ii'll take Spark to the Shrine for some therapy leave so we can process all thisit adds.ii'll...It doesn’t finish that other thought.
⏻ Spark pulls a pocketwatch out of her pocket. It’s not an hourly one, though. This one tracks moon phases and days of the week.
Spark
“Here.” She loops the chain around Winds’ neck, and pauses heavily before she lets go. “I don’t feel like I have the right to do this, but damn everything, you give me something to deliver, I make sure it arrives.” She half-hugs Winds, and then steps away, holding back her emotions.
⟡ Winds reciprocates the hug as best /ey can, and holds the pocketwatch briefly.
Winds
“I hope to see you soon.”
A L r r a a
“Let it begin, then.”
⟡ The waters pull Winds back, gently, and then down. At the same time, they begin tiding the others out.
A L r r a a
“Remembrance is the strongest thing you have. Use it well.”
⟡ Those are the last things it says before fully vanishing under the water as well, and then the rest of the water goes still. Just a gentle wave guiding the remaining three back out of the cavern, and Echo’s music playing in the silence.
POST SESSION NOTES
⏻ fucked up you gotta end it like that.
∃ for reallll.
⟡ I accept no responsibility for mental damages caused by attachment to my freaks myFreaks
⏻ google dot com how to sue yourself
∃ ok, but we should actually talk about the thing before we spent another 5k words beating each other up.
⏻ what if the readers are into that?
∃ then they can re-read the paragraphs where we do that, i guess.
⟡ Uh I call this meeting to order first order of business is… Songs We Sing itself?
⏻ what did this end up becoming? fanfic, a let’s play, a text-based podcast?
∃ trying to define anything we get up to is dicey, we shouldn’t be trying.
⏻ true. i think it went well! the setting is good, and even though we didn’t use the damn mechanics most of the time, i like what’s there.
⟡ I think there was a chance we finally had a level up at the very end—which, for the sake of completion, we haven’t applied any EXP at the end of this session because it’s weird to level up when the curtains are pulled—but all things considered, I feel like that also worked out fairly well. One or two more interactions or rolls and we could have had more moves to also not use much. Wow we really did just yap the entire time.
∃ TTRPG mechanics don’t exist if you’re too busy talking about things to need them. but maybe we’re all just burnt out of rolling for Intimidate.
⏻ ← trying her hardest to not launch into a rant about D&D mechanics
∃ yeah, like i mentioned at the start of this one, the text formatting is a bit fucked. that’s my main takeaway. it looks so nice in markdown, and then the HTML layer screws half of it up. i’d go back and clean that up if i knew how to do that for anything. i’ll definitely have to poke around with that for next time. because, you know, it’s better than we started, but it’s still not good.
⟡ Yeah.
⏻ yeah. back to levels for a bit, i do wonder if we could have just rolled for things that aren’t the Gig Moves.
⟡ How so?
⏻ like… we did a lot of stuff that was a bit more avant-garde than usual, like you with Echo, right?
∃ what, the music? that was mostly flavor.
⏻ right, but it could have been a mechanical flavor to get some more EXP as like an exploration of what the Songcraft from that Instrument does outside of purely confrontations.
∃ ahhhh. hm. yeah, i guess we could have. it would definitely be level 2 by now if that was the case. we can add that to the notes for next time.
⟡ “The notes” probably being these. Also, this is clearly a visual novel.
⏻ with what images? i don’t care how indie someone is, we are not getting away with a handful of CGs across something like 35k words and maybe 10 locations across flashbacks?
⟡ Okay, so we just need to make more images.
⏻ putting that train of thought aside, we should talk a little about the setup and stuff that got cut.
∃ ah, right. that’s important. where first?
⟡ Loooots of Winds’ backstory. I was basically rewriting bits of that every day for a week, and it only fully worked out after like the second full episode?
∃ also Echo’s. i wanted to swing by the library at some point, but then that would take too long to circle back to and we had talked about it and settled on the “Winds is not making it back from this trip” thing.
⏻ yeah, comparatively, my backstory was really simple. just a girl who likes to walk. though i guess we didn’t super get into that part of her character either?
∃ (pulls up additional, metaphorical chair) tell me more…
⏻ like, there’s the whole thing about how her horn’s broken, and the person she takes after who used her as a walking stick. i just never found a good way to get into that, because she’s become sort of this business-as-a-hobby type of hiker and then she got wrapped up in the festival stuff. i might bring her back in another campaign or oneshot some day to look at that more.
∃ oh, same here. i’d love to terrorize (affectionate) someone else with the musical freak autism. should maybe work on learning how to write some of the fucked shit i alluded to, or at least find enough esoteric inspiration to send as a moodboard to whatever group it shows up in next time.
⟡ Gosh, I wonder what and when Winds will be the next time /ey get a next time. Also, real talk, I was regretting the neopronoun choice mid-way through episode 3 because it feels so awkward to type!
⏻ misgendering your own blorbos… tragic.
⟡ I did toy with the idea of the final Deities not being familiar with the pronoun and not asking, but it didn’t really feel like that was necessary for this story and also didn’t particularly fit.
∃ hey can we talk about fucking. A L r r a a?
⏻ ok, that one was my idea. the opposite one i take no blame for.
⟡ I think it’s important to have a few that are just inherently Strange. It’s good for enrichment.
∃ is it, like, a degeneration or shortening of anything?
⏻ what, in-lore? maybe. i think i just picked random letters in a way that felt right. look, we have O. we have, what was their name, PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks. start to finish, we have never respected the normal expectations for names. in fact i think it’s actually rarer for us to use names as structured in the rules? what’s wrong with us.
∃ what isn’t?
⟡ We are perfect beings, I don’t know what you’re on about. But yes, I think a very noticeable effect of needing to make names for everyone for once results in the names being a mix of inspirations and random noises and words. Luckily, they tend to work out! But in a live play setting we would definitely need to shorten PaleSunOnAWinterDayThroughTheRocks’s name.
∃ no, we could make people say it.
⟡ …Okay, we could.
⏻ we should.
⟡ My condolences to our players… Wait, was that our last condolence!? Where the hell did they go!?
⏻ oh dear.
∃ i guess i’ll pick some up later…
⟡ Anyway, that’s about it for now, folks! There’s more we could talk about, but we’re skirting under 15k works on this one alone and it’s been a rather exhausting week-and-month working on this. If you enjoy the vibes or got interested in SWS at all, check it out! I can’t say what we did is necessarily solo or GM play, but what’s the fun in knowing for sure?
∃ we will absolutely be back for more at some point, probably gayer, definitely with a better text structure. maybe also different players? we might rotate around as we work on other stuff. look forward or don’t, it’ll find you whenever it happens.
⏻ really depends on how busy we all are, which isn’t necessarily something you’d think comes up as much, but hey! c’est la we. and speaking of, i need to get back to working on something else myself…
∃ there’s a lot to work with just within this valley we set up here, and we can also poke around to find other parts of Wake to build off of. possibly the most interesting part of GM-ing outside of the, and i am avoiding using a certain 4-letter suffix, bog-standard fantasy settings.
⏻ i think we just need to wipe our memories of D&D to have a chance at thinking about that neutrally at this point. chat, hit us up if you know a guy for that.
⟡ What was it I used last time? “Until we Wake again”?
∃ you’re really sticking with that?
⟡ I think it works well enough. Part of the fun of a system is figuring out how to be needlessly extra with things.
⏻ it’s true!
∃ so true.
⟡ Thanks again to Gentrigger, and the other runners and players and artists for this system. We’re looking forward to the next update for the rulebook.
∃ that’d be a good timing to run it again.
⏻ hey how do you end a conversation again?
⟡ Look, you just reach over and hit the—