GLoG 93: Something something something babies

[Purple Eagle]

Lake Beach

Abi hugs back, and grins as they go off to get changed. She's not too worried about privacy- if nothing else, they can always change in a bathroom. It's not like she's not expecting to be seen in her swimwear in the time between the cabin and the beach.

She's changing into the green bikini that matches her hair, the one she bought with Zara.

[Lake Beach]

Zara's wearing the black and pink burqini that she wore on their beach date, the one where they built sandcastles instead of swimming. She'll lead her girlfriend to the beach-side. "Swim time, baby!" She declares, as she lets go of Abi's hand, runs and swan-dives into the lake!

[Zefir]

"I'm glad to hear it was just the Nexus doing its thing."
"Oh, the connection is that we both ended up working with VIGIL." Spike explains, with an accommodating smile.

"My name is Spike, but for them, let's just say they're with the church of Deus Mechanicus."

Andy listens, but as the name of the church falls his neutral expression changed into a rather sad expression.

"Let me guess. They want me to come home or at least work for them? maybe even insist me to follow that ..... contract?"

He struggels as he speaks it out since he isn't sure what Spike knows he will not admit about the wedding. After all this is something he should be more upset. After all they hunted him down for whatever reason.

[Recaiden]

"They want to know what happened to you." Spike starts out.
But look at Andy's face, the way his expression falls. They have to nod.
"Know this: I don't care whether you get married at all. But what is your problem with them?"

[Gullara]

Lucy grabs a trashy romance novel. The beautiful heroine and her handsome love interest are pictured locked in a passionate kiss on the cover.

Russel gets luckier. He grabs a heavy, leatherbound tome. The title on the spine reads, "To Touch the Darkness, Vol. III," picked out in gold leaf.

[Hawthorn Cabin]

"Look, it's like mommy and daddy." Lucy shows Russell the cover, slicks out her tongue and scrunches her nose. Russell grins and pushes the book away.

The boy shows what he found to his sister. "Whaaat? Is that a magic book?" Probably like the ones Cessie has in the library, which the kids are never inside without being carefully watched. They don't get to touch many books in there. "What's it say?" Russell cracks it open and takes a look.

[bc56]

The tome is opened to the beginning. The text is handwritten with a quill pen.

To those who follow in my footsteps,"
I have collected my continued research in this, my third journal, to benefit those who also seek after our master of the bleak gate. I hope that you may make use of the names, rituals, and formulae I enclose to further your own journey. Hail to the Seawater King!

Around the last sentence is a curious smear of white salt crystals stuck to the page.

[Gullara]

[Hawthorn Cabin]

Lucy crowds in next to Russell and reads alongside him. She squints her eyes near closed as she tries to interpret it. Her brother silently mouth the words as he gradually parses it.

"Sounds like witch stuff to me." Lucy decided, not really fully grasping the passage. Russell points out the word 'formulae' and looks at Lucy. She looks at it again. "I dunno. Let's look at the next part." She suggests. Maybe it'll make more sense.

[bc56]

The book continues.

Tomorrow, the expedition to the crypt of the forgotten pharaoh sets out. I have equipped these explorers much better than the last. I hope they will bring me the scrolls and manuscripts I require.

Success! My followers have recovered a copy of the Book of the Dead with some rather intriguing additions, along with a khopesh marked with demonic sigils. I suspect the weapon was once a vessel for an exalted one. It carries a potent aura.

I have found a ritual in the manuscript which seems to be intended to contact fiendish spirits to act as messengers and couriers to the dead. I shall attempt to translate the instructions."

The translation must be on the next page.

[Earl of Purple]

Lake Beach

Abi doesn't swan dive, she just runs into the lake until her feet no longer touch the bottom and starts to swim off.

[Purple Eagle]

[Lake Beach]

Once they're both in the lake, Zara grins and takes her girlfriend in her arms. "I'm so happy we're still together, but what'd Isobel and Bryan think? I like them, but they might not like me if they found out." Which is still not very understandable to Zara. So what if she's a bred killer who still has a sadomasochistic streak a mile wide? "Can you not tell them, babe?"

[Earl of Purple]

Lake Beach

"Bryan won't care, Mum will. She's a pacifist." If I wasn't sure she'd had a meat meal at the fancy restaurant, I'd have her say Isobel was a vegetarian. She could have gone vegetarian since, I suppose. "The twins won't care either, but you didn't really ask about them." Who cares about the twins, really?

Probably Isobel and Bryan.

Abi grins as she's hugged, but frowns as she's asked to keep it quiet. "I won't tell them. But... if we get much more serious, I would like you to. They'll find out somehow, and it'd be better from you, I think." It'd help Abi feel better, at the least.

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Sit]

Geneva just crosses her arms and looks at Sekhmet in a: really? You REALLY think so?

Sort of way.

Is Sekhmet really going to insist that Geneva doesn't know what she's talking about when it comes to this stuff?

Hmm?

She doesn't say anything.

Just watches and waits.

Let's see if Sekhmet comes around.

[bc56]

Sekhmet seems adamant. "Really. I'm, uh, not that powerful." She doesn't have much in the way of self-confidence, does she? "I've never been able to, uh, shield my mind." Except just now, which she can't seem to believe.

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Sit]

"You never could before you started to practice," Geneva corrects.

That is an important distinction to keep in mind, Sekhmet.

[bc56]

"But, uh, no one could improve a hundredfold in an hour of practice." Sekhmet seems confused. Is she starting to realize that she has a natural talent for psychic power? Or is she still in denial? "Are you sure? Really?"

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Sit]

"I'm extremely sure," Geneva replies, her tone resolute. "It's true that mental defense doesn't come as naturally to you, but you can still do it. Doing it just takes far more effort on your part."

She pauses for a moment here, thinking about how she wants to continue that thought.

"I... suspect that's intentional. Your piece was the most important one on the board, right?"

That was the impression Geneva had gotten.

"I think your mother wanted you to be both powerful AND easy to control."

Then she offers a reassuring smile.

"I also think she's going to be unpleasantly surprised."

[bc56]

"That, uh, makes sense." Sekhmet looks a little disturbed by it, but it does make sense. "The, uh, Walker can be controlled by both sides." That's why it was both red and white. "If the game is, uh, the correct metaphor, I, uh, must currently be controlled by, uh, light."

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Sit]

"Well... that's definitely better than being controlled by the alternative," Geneva reasons.

She isn't one hundred percent sure, though.

Hopefully the light side is actually benevolent as opposed to just some different flavor of evil.

That might be Geneva's home world talking, though.

There wasn't much there aside from the grim and the gritty.

"How are you feeling right now?" she asks. "Tired? Ready for more? Ready for something else?"

She doesn't want to press TOO hard after all. Sekhmet has already made quite a bit of progress.

[bc56]

"I'm, uh, tired of smelling random, uh, things." Her nose hurts a little. Well, not really, but sorta. It's itchy. "Could we, uh, practice something else?" Maybe a different psychic technique? That could be helpful.

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Sit]

"Okay, other things," Geneva agrees. "You can mount psychic attacks. You can use telepathy. That's all esp. Have you ever tried manifesting teek before?"

And of course Geneva shows off a little.

She raises a hand toward the nearby lake and then clenches her fingers before making a wrenching motion with her hand.

Oh hey.

That's a really big boulder.

Probably a few hundred pounds worth of granite just got hefted out of the water, all dripping wet and crawling with various aquatic insect larvae.

It's suspended in a subtle pink glow.

"Technically the hand motions aren't required. But they sure help. It's just a tool for helping to focus your intent and manifest it to the outside world. Except instead of manifesting that intent into the minds of others, you manifest it on physical objects."

Like rocks!

[bc56]

"I, uh," Sekhmet looks a little embarrassed. "I tried. Once. I, uh, can't move much with any, uh, control." She focuses visibly and makes a lifting movement, much like Geneva, but the object that rises into the air is only a pebble, and Sekhmet is visibly strained by the effort.

[Purple Eagle]

[Lake Beach]

Pacifist, schmacifist! Something else she doesn't understand, always squeamish about perfectly normal things such as killing your enemies. "Alistair would probably think it makes me super cool, or something."

She goes forehead-to-forehead with her girlfriend, stroking that green hair of hers. "If it'll make you happy, I will. That's why I'm asking you to keep it quiet, I want them to hear it from me, when the time comes." She plants a small kiss on Abi's lips. "Are you a... pacifist, too?"

[Gullara]

The book continues.

Tomorrow, the expedition to the crypt of the forgotten pharaoh sets out. I have equipped these explorers much better than the last. I hope they will bring me the scrolls and manuscripts I require.

Success! My followers have recovered a copy of the Book of the Dead with some rather intriguing additions, along with a khopesh marked with demonic sigils. I suspect the weapon was once a vessel for an exalted one. It carries a potent aura.

I have found a ritual in the manuscript which seems to be intended to contact fiendish spirits to act as messengers and couriers to the dead. I shall attempt to translate the instructions."

The translation must be on the next page.

[Hawthorn Cabin]

Lucy crowds Russell even more as she reads the next bit. The boy's risking being toppled over at this point. Unfortunately this is very much far above both of their reading levels. They murmur between each other, puzzling over long and unfamiliar words. Sounding the letters out leads nowhere.

"I think it's about adventure." Lucy decides, pointing out the word 'explorers'. "And they found some stuff." Russell nods and flips to the next page.

[bc56]

The book continues with a couple pages of hieroglyphs. They must have been transcribed from the other book mentioned. Thankfully, the translation comes next.

Take a piece of the person you wish to contact and place it in a container along with the message you wish to send or gift you wish to give. Inscribe a circle on the floor in chalk or paint. Place the container in the center of the circle and speak the name: Rakha Horem, Satek Bota. The Exalted One will appear before you to carry your message beyond the grave.

There's a diagram of the binding circle to be drawn as part of the ritual. It's not that complicated. The only thing that would be difficult to obtain is part of a dead person.
But also, is that a sound from the bedroom where Russel thought he saw an eye? It sounds like the scratching of claws against the floor.

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Sit]

"Something is more than nothing," Geneva laughs. "You do know that most people have zero psychic potential, right? Lifting even something that small is a start."

Geneva releases the large stone, letting it drop back into the lake with a SPLOOSH!

Our heroes risk being splashed pretty dramatically!

The water is rushing toward them!

Only to stop.

All the water that would have soaked them is now hanging in that same pink aura.

Huh.

Fancy.

"Try holding this up instead," Geneva says, levitating a droplet of water over to Sekhmet.

[bc56]

Sekhmet lets the pebble drop back into the grass and reaches out for the water. She holds it, somewhat, but it twists and flows in her psychic grip, looking less like a droplet and more like a shifting blob of water. The way Sekhmet's holding it evidently isn't gentle or consistent enough to get it to hold its shape. "Why is this so hard?" She looks fairly frustrated with herself. Its this tiny thing, but she's shaking with the effort of holding it up. She has almost no aptitude for this task.

[Gullara]

[Hawthorn Cabin]

"Oh, pictures!" It's always nice when a book has picture. They spend a little while looking at each one, but don't take too long to figure out that they don't really get any meaning out of them. They're pretty abstract. On to more words.

Words are hard, though. The kids puzzle over it for a bit. There's lots more sounding out and mouthing of words. "I guess it's magic mail?" Lucy decides after a while struggling with it. Russell points out the 'beyond the grave' line. "Ghost mail?"

They're interrupted by the noise. Lucy gasps and whirls toward the door. "Russell, it's a monster." She whispers. Russell gets down on his stomach and tries to see if he can see under the crack of the door from here.

[bc56]

When Russel peers through the crack beneath the door, he might be able to make out a few clawed feet a short distance beyond. They don't look like they could belong to anything larger than a large dog, but that's still pretty big compared to the children. Whatever it is is kinda leathery and scaly, like a lizard. After a couple seconds, it pads away from the door, its claws making a soft scratching sound on the hard floor.

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Sit]

Geneva hovers over a second drop of water and adds it to the first.

Why?

Just to see how much Sekhmet can handle at once before she completely loses her mental grip.

"That's a good question," Geneva replies. "What do you think the answer is?"

Oh no.

Irritating teacher talk.

Geneva is trying to make Sekhmet think about things!

To puzzle through problems until she figures it out!

How awful.

[bc56]

It doesn't take much more water before Sekhmet loses control and the droplet splatters apart and is lost. The fiendling takes a deep breath and visibly relaxes once this happens. She's no longer putting in the effort to hold that together. She seems a little uncomfortable with Geneva's question. "I'm, uh, not strong enough?" That's silly. Her abilities with communication and control are incredible. She's very powerful. "I don't know, uh, what I'm doing?"

[Rebonack]

[Lakeside Sit]

"You're incredibly strong," Geneva replies as she begins carefully placing all the drops of floating water (one of which contains a very confused tadpol) back into the lake. "So that isn't it. You have some idea of what you're doing, otherwise you wouldn't be able to use telekinesis at all. Let's try looking at the problem from a slightly different direction."

And then?

That pink glow surrounding the last drop of water begins growing more defined.

More coherent.

Until it isn't just a pink glow at all.

It's a solid shell of resilient pink light.

"Telekinesis isn't the only form of teek. It involves moving objects with your will. The other form of teek is known as psychokinesis. Instead of moving existing objects the teeker's will is manifested as a ephemeral quasi-physical object."

Geneva hovers the tiny psychic barrier closer to Sekhmet so she can touch it.

"Psychokinesis is often used to defend by making barriers like this one. But it has a broad range of applications."

The little orb of light wobbles should Sekhmet touch it before expanding into a somewhat rough facsimile of a flower.