Renew the Pact: Time of our Lives, part 15
Log Info
- Title: Renew the Pact: Time of our Lives, part 15
- Emitter: Whirlpool
- Characters: Paenitia, Aryia, Seyardu, Lyme, Fallon
- Place: Goldcoast of Veyshan, Tashraan, Temple of Navos
- Time: Friday, September 10, 2021, 9:31 PM
- Summary: The adventurers confront Shaevin, who is genuinely confused at seeing them. Accusations fly back and forth, but eventually they get down to sorting out what is happening. Time Fuckery, is technical term, and the adventurers appear to be a week before they actually arrived in Tashraan. The questioning by the guards takes on a whole new meaning. Shaevin provides several possibilities, they're in a loop, this is the first iteration, or it has played out, someone else is attempting to counter them. Some of the crimes they were accused of might yet to be committed in the future of their current past. Everyone is getting a headache. They're not even sure if the things they saw change, have already changed or are yet to.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Paenitia 3'0" 34 Lb Halfling Female A Lucht knight, dark skinned in bold feathery finery. Aryia 4'8" 110 Lb Shadow Elf Female A heavily scarred mul with a curious look about her. Seyardu 5'6" 150 Lb Sith-Makar Female A friendly silver sith-makar with a perpetual squint. Lyme 7'2" 435 Lb Orc Butch Black-skinned oruch of suitable stature Fallon 5'6" 145 Lb Half-Elf Male A short hooded man. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= NPCs of Note =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Shaevin Friendly Dawn Elf Male A priest of Navos, very confused. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Whirlpool 5'0" Otyugh I am stinky! -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
Previously?
The battle with Shaevin and the corrupt Navosians over, the party searches the shrine. Lyme finds a bathroom in the barracks and cleans up. No one hears the whistling. The shrine is entirely empty. Paenitia locates a door with an hourglass shaped hole in it. With no clearer plan, she places it in there and the door opens. It reveals a room with a similar shaped socket in the floor, and masses of arcane script surrounding it. Sadly, Seyardu is the only on who understands magical writings, and this is beyond her also. Lyme and Aryia are equally stumped, Paenitia suggests trying the next doorway, and warns that the room might flip upside down. After a quick check for magic, the hourglass is placed.
It rotates.
The stone the hourglass is turned into is, in fact, a dial. It begins clicking as it turns and suddenly there is a sensation of great lightness, as if...
...as if no one existed for a few seconds.
...and then it stops, because everyone stopped turning.
Shaevin is here, and he looks quite stunned to see everyone.
"...what on earth?! How did you get back here?!'
Wait, what? He looks perfectly normal, and alive, and is holding an hourglass in his hands. You know, the one in the st--- wait. Now it's gone. And is just in his hand.
Oh. Oh boy.
Now? Prior to Previously?
The little Lucht knight marches up to Shaevin, really it's two steps, and pokes him in the knee, "You have the explaining to do. You make the plans your god does not approve. Have you meet us before?"
Seyardu was on her feet, shaking off the nausea from the glaring magic she had just witnessed, and all the runs on the ground. Eventually she walks over to the pedastal, and squints at the not dead priest. She crosses her arms.
"Yes, explain now, please." Seyardu adds. "You have that hourglass in your hands, which means this is you."
Aryia, exhausted and sweat laden, frowns heavily at the sight of the man. She could have sworn she JUST ended him not a moment ago. And the strange sensation helped in no way with her discombobulation about everything. Despite Aryia's shorter than normal stature compared to most, she looms behind the larger than life Lucht knight, knuckles raw and bloodied. But not finished if need be.
Fallon doesn't know exactly what was happening, but he -does- discern this Shaevin is past Shaevin. Now they had to figure out just how far back this Shaevin goes. He has little interest in conversation -- the others are doing that better than he would -- and he just slooowly lifts his bow, aiming at the hand with the hourglass. No arrow is loosed *just* yet, but you know, just in case. Shaevin kind of stares at the lot of you.
"... I .. er... have ... no idea who you are."
He certainly does not have any holes in his person, or tentacles extruding from him. "Who are you? What are you doing in this chamber?"
"I am Sister Paenitia Snapdragon del Haranna, Knight of the Pillar, Paladina of Tarien and the accidental time wanderer." The little Red Knight announces herself, "With me is Friend Dragon, Seyardu, the sublime Lyme, Aryia who speak with her fists and Fallon the Hunter."
These names will be meaningless, but still she shares them. "We meet you, sometime, with your friend Farland. We tell you we have see strange things, objects change."
She waves her hand around, her armour creaking, "You tell us, parts of the past is go missing, the present is change. We separate. Next we are arrested for things we have not done, and after we escape we find you and the other priests feeding yourself to the void, and a Nothing Spider that emerge."
"We end up here after the fight when we are taking the look around." Paenitia taps Shaevin's knee again, "What make you think it a good idea to try that thing? What you have read?"
GAME: Seyardu rolls sense motive: (12)+7: 19
"Dame Paenitia speaks the truth." Seyardu nods, squinting more at the cleric. "We have met you. And you were not the most amicable. You are a cleric of Navos yes? You should have a good idea what time and day it is. But look at one of the many clocks you have set up in the temple."
Aryia has nothing to say or add as Paenitia succinctly shares all that needs to be known, and want to be known. Instead she stares on, a hunched, scarred mul'neissa, who look like they just got done clobbering her way through a bar brawl.
She cracks her neck. The only sound she makes.
Fallon frowns when every detail of their wonderful history together is relayed. Since he didn't pipe up himself, he really had no right to complain, but he likely would have preferred to manipulate the bad guy first. He keep his bow up: he has a sneaking suspicion they're going to have to kill him again, now.
"... what?" he says.
Shaevin just looks somewhat dumbfounded. "I ... have no idea what you're talking about, truly. Farland is here? Ah, balls. This can't be good. Time fuckery."
He pinches the bridge of his nose. "You'd think we Navosians would be able to deal with it, but well, time fuckery is time fuckery and no one likes time fuckery, apparently least of all you. You've come forward or back in time. I'm going to guess backwards, given that I don't know who you are."
"You will find it time buggery you look close enough." Paenitia corrects, continuing to stare upwards at the tall elf, her mask an unrelenting grin. "We share the important bits, pieces go missing and things change."
She looks around at the others, then back at the Time Priest, "You can figure out the missing past parts, maybe where things are going to change now, we can go commit the crimes we been arrested for?"
"This part of the plan, I have not thought."
Aryia blinks, her imposing stance broken with her throwing a confused glance back at Paenitia. Oh. Crimes? She's cool with committing some crimes. Lets do a crime. "A future where I learned we can kick your ass," she goes back to what she was doing, too tired to think about the possibilities and madness that is time travel. It's a few gestures that don't need a real translation, should he not know the intricacies of it. "So now we go find the thing, right?" <Handspeech>
"...I'm sorry, you've lost me," says Shaevin after a moment, "Arrested? You were arrested?" He puts a hand over his face. "Oh, no, it's even worse than I thought."
Fallon cocks one brow at Shaevin. "How is it worse than you thought?" This was the second time they were first meeting, after all. He'd be impressed if Shaevin had already concocted a coherent theory.
"You already deduced the potential possibilities that you were arrested for things you did in the past. That makes resolving this without damaging time even more difficult, and you say you killed me. That's also very problematic and a situation I'd prefer to avoid." He lets out a sigh.
"And why should we believe you, Shaevin?" Seyardu asks, looking to the man and the others, and taking a step away from the group. "You were acting amicable enough last we met, only to conjure void entities when we were gone. Why should we believe that the guards were not just set up, a much more plausible occurrence?"
Paenitia glances in Fallon's direction, then says, "You give me the look, like I sharing too much. We tell him more the details to sort things out or we keep testing like Friend Dragon is, because we not sure he is not fool us the second first time?"
"What's changeable. It might take iterations..." Shaevin holds up a hand, a look of distant and intense concentration on his face.
Lyme listens, and then finally asks in a low growl: "Worse than /what/? What did you think would happen, and how is this /worse/?" It's not loud, just intense.
Fallon sighs at Paenitia. "Would have left out the part about killing him if we're expecting his trust and cooperation," he replies.
Aryia's visage twitches as more is said, but nothing is done. She steps out from behind the Lucht, her gesturing along the way. "Listen here you void sucking, limp spined, aloof brained, slimy little bitch," she motions threateningly, the last one bouncing off her chin and shooting forward to grab him by the collar and yank him down to her shimmering eyes. "Quit pussyfooting. Talk. Now. You know something." <Handspeech>
Seyardu did not move to stop Aryia. She shakes her head, and steps forward as well. "Why do you not speak more clearly, Shaevin? As it stands now, muttering to yourself about changing something, it sounds as if you will try a ritual again. In which case, well-" She looks to the others, and shakes her head.
"I think he mean, we have to try the thing, over and over until it go right." Paenitia looks between Seyardu and Shaevin. She laughs. "So, we will be having this conversation time and time again."
"...I'm sorry. This is all a bit much. I'll try to be clear-er. Yes, I mean we have to try again to fix it. It's probably going to take qa few tries. Time is like pages on a book being rewritten and rewritten over again by one of those illustrious monks."
Fallon lowers his bow now. Reluctantly. He isn't -thrilled- at the notion, but he had no better alternative.
"Shaevin. Why should we trust you? Last time you were talking about working together, you were trying to undo the fabric of the world." Seyardu states, now glaring at the priest. "Something you have not even acknowledged once. And a plan such as that does not come together in the passing of a night. Would you like us to try until you succeed in this endeavor?"
Aryia's face morphs into a snarl. She shakes the priest in her grasp. "It? It? It? What the fuck is it? You fucking sacrificed people, you dumb fuck! We are NOT repeating that." <Handspeech>
The shadow elf nods her head towards Seyardu, it just furthering her point.
Lyme snarls. He's not holding it together. "You're fucking right, it's all a bit much. A few fucking tries? How many times do we have to kill you before time rights itself?"
".. I'd really hate to die," says Shaevin after a moment, "can we try again without the whole killing me part?"
He looks wry. "I'm sorry. I can't speak to what future me was thinking -- it's future me. It does not sound like something I'd do."
Lyme snaps back: "Future-you was a fucking asshole, Shaevin."
GAME: Seyardu rolls sense motive: (9)+7: 16 GAME: Aryia rolls sense motive: (6)+13: 19 GAME: Paenitia rolls sense motive: (20)+11: 31
He seems way more genuine and confused this time. Waaaaaaaay more. Shaevin is really, really frightened and trying not to let on.
If Aryia could growl, she'd be matching Lyme's rumble. She releases the priest with a shove. "Sounds like future you drank too much of the fucking time juice." <Handspeech>
"Then that is what you say. But you will tell us everything, you plans, what you plan to do, and we will leave nothing unknown." Seyardu states, the glare lessening somewhat. "We have not solved the problem yet, regardless. And I am out of my element with time anomalies."
Fallon chews on the inside of his cheek. "What were you in the middle of doing before we interrupted you?"
"..this room gets very dusty," says Shaevin, sheepishly.
He points beyond the door he came through. There's a broom tipped against the wall.
Paenitia pats Shaevin on the knee, "It is okay my friend, I make the vows to protect the helpless and that include the imbeciles. You will not be harmed."
She faces the others, her wild and crazy mask with the smiling man, and her dark eyes peering through, "We have scare him enough, he genuinely not know and is very confused. Maybe we go back further than we think?"
"We need to sort out the not knowns."
Shaevin just sort of looks flatly at Paenitia. He restrains himself from making a sharp retort. Now is not the, er, time.
Lyme's hands flex slowly, as he calms himself down visibly. That's right. Act like a Serrielite and not an oruch. You can do it, Lyme. "Fine."
Fallon eyes the broom. "I see," he mutters. Adds up with what Paenitia concludes. "He can't vouch for plans he has yet to concoct."
Seyardu sighs, and shakes her head. She looks to Paenitia, and a thought crosses her mind. "If we were the ones now back and time, I can not help but wonder, dame Paenitia. Would your vows stop you from seeing yourself from a different time without mask and armor? Irrelevant, but, this is a bizarre situation."
"Hmmm." The Red Knight says to Seyardu, "I will think about that."
"...why don't we have tea and you can go over all the things again," he suggests. "I need to hear this over again," replies Shaevin with a sigh, leading you out to one of the other rooms. There are other acolytes present, going about their business. At the moment, they don't have holes in them.
"... what's the date for you?" He asks, carefully. Listens.
"... you're a week early," he adds, thoughtfully, "You haven't even arrived yet, let alone been hired."
"Maybe we can find the decanter which was the sword first, then, or the writings by the Enchanter." Paenitia suggests. She frowns, which no one can see, but there's a sense of it in her words. "Now the confusing part."
"If the past change and change the future present, if we back in the past before the first past change affect a present in the future, is this past-past not change too?"
"Navos have the extra conjugations for the mix up past, present, futures? Because Tarien does not, it is too funny without."
Lyme pauses. "Also, hopefully, we make it so Shaevin doesn't turn to the void."
"Fuckery," says Shaevin to Paenitia.
Aryia rubs her temples, it al beyond confusing to her. She sighs before snapping a finger towards Lyme. He had the right of it. Fuckery.
"This would be best. I still do not know what caused this course." Seyardu sighs. "But if it can be fixed, then that is good."
"We need to fix this, and find what we came for. And ideally make sure Farland is alright, as well."
Fallon listens intently, but nods. "I'm done with all this time shit, and I want to get it right the next time. That sounds as good a plan as any." He glances to Shaevin. "I *do* wonder what sets you off..."
"Maybe he get the cursed statue or something in his drink. There are many ways a good man fall." Paenitia suggests.
"So, the extra week." She taps her foot against the ground, a mostly padded sound although her leg armour rattles, "We know who buy things, we know the auction house, we know the things for sale, we have an idea someone be murder."
Her grinning mask faces various people, "You remember the name of the one that get killed? I was not listen too much during the interrogations. Where you think we should start?"
Fallon blinks at Paenitia. "I don't remember..." He's not sure they were ever given names.
Aryia blinks, reaches into her bag, and pulls out her journal. Hopefully the names and descriptions from their scouting were still scribbled down and not subject to time fuckery....
"I hate to even suggest it." Seyardu says, shaking her head. "But perhaps, I do not wish to let Akorinil know anything about what happened, but they may be in town now. It is something to be considered. The name of the murdered, I will try to remember."
Aryia nods and shows notes.
"...you took notes. Beautiful! The reality is that there are some real problems facing us here," explains Shaevin, "and choices only you can make. I don't think it should come as a surprise that things are pretty ... messed up right now. Ideally, time shouldn't be able to crack like this, but that airship has not only left port, it has exploded mid air and gone flaming into an erupting volcano that then detonates a half mile of everything around it, and that's not even getting into the potential ash clouds. If you contact Farland, for example, you may cause the events you're trying to avoid. Which seems possible, given that this may well be a stable time loop given all things considered, in which case my fate may be unavoidable. I can only hope there's a good reason that I have to die."
Shaevin shrugs his shoulders. "I'll be at peace with my God if that 's so... assuming the Void didn't get my soul entirely." He clears his throat.
"I'd like to avoid that."
"The alternate possibility is that you cause Farland to be thought of as the murderer for other reasons, *or* that that is the action of someone attempting to prevent you from reaching this point in the loop to *stop* you, in which case this is just one of several iterations that might have already been gamed out. Do you have a headache yet? I do."
"The question you have to ask yourself, and I can not answer this for you, is what assumption you want to operate under?"
Lyme just /looks/ at Shaevin. "You're the priest of time here. Does our presence in the past already change the future? We arrived differently last time."
"Did you?" asks Shaevin of Lyme.
Aryia stares at her book, listening to the time priest. But also not at the same time. Slowly, she looks up. A gaunt emotion set in her visage. "... if... we went back in time. Am... I still in Alexandria? Are... are there two of me now... who's the real one? Am I real?" <Handspeech>
"Does it change things? I never would have thought to ask if we were running around in the future. It is too late to think of that."
Seyardu stops to think, and sighs. "Are we forced to stay here? Or do we return to the time we came from after coming here? It is only a week, but that opens up many concerns. Secondary concerns to what transpires, I will have to admit. As for that Aryia, it is not a matter of who is real. It is both you, at different points in time. At least, that is how I would imagine it."
"Ah. Hm." Paenitia looks around for a wall to lean against, or failing that, something to sit on. Not that either would help her think, but the movement and change of position might. She pulls on the chin of her mask.
"I have the headache coming." The Red Knight admits, "Okay okay. If this a Loop, then we are remembering the previous. So, if we have done this the many time before, this the only one we are remembering the past, so we have get further."
She looks over at Aryia, "Unless, there notes in there you do not remember." Sadly, she doesn't understand handsign, or she'd share that reality is Tarien's big cosmic joke and no one actually exists. Not that this would exactly be a comfort.
"We walk in the front with Farland, last time. After a costume ball." She elaborates for Shaevin. "Well, easiest test might be, do you know of the Blade of Balance?"
Fallon sighs and shakes his head. He really wishes he remembered the details of the interrogation... and it's strange that he doesn't have *any* details? He's usually more observant than that. "I think someone's messing with us, but my guess is as good as yours."
Thinking back, the guards didn't supply a lot in the line of names, neither did the auctioneer. The interrogation, while very corrupt seeming, consisted of being asked questions about their arrival time, Farland, what was done, accounting for what each person did and where they were...
Come to think of it, they asked a LOT of questions about what times each person did things. The same questions over and over, get to the end, do it again.
Developing their timelines
WHAT AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE, RIGHT?
They might not be corrupt! Just not prepared for time traveling adventurers!
Or attempting to force confessions and trip-ups.
Aryia falls quiet, hands stilling as she leaves her journal on her lap and buries her face into her hands. Listening, but only barely able to comprehend what is actually going on.
"We may not have done this before. Or, I do not know. If that is the case and this is the first time, I do not wish to try until we succeed. But if that is what it takes, so be it." Seyardu sighs. "I was not prepared for this when I was asked to accompany a man to an auction. But we have time to determine what to do. I do not see how we would have murdered the buyer, reason or not. Or Farland. Which leaves the question of what _is_ going on. And how do we fix the problems with the time."
Shaevin nods thoughtfully.
"I may be the priest of time but that doesn't make me all knowing. All I can do is guide you: also, I'm a bit worried anything I do will lead me... where you say you saw me, so I kind of want to sit back a little and try not to become a hollowed out void abomination, thank you."
Lyme nods. "I believe so. Both to the different way, and the messing with." A shrug. "Or maybe doing nothing will."
"Can you tell us perhaps, about what happened in that room we were in?" Seyardu suggest. "Why it was locked the way it was, why going in there allowed us to come back here? It may be important, if that would help determine what went wrong."
"The hourglass, as well as the room, yes. Tell." Paenitia points to the key that Shaevin has retained, "How many there are of those. And the big one out front, that do things too?"
She laughs suddenly, "Tell us if there the giant socket under the temple for dial back the whole city."
Her tone goes lower, more serious, "Still we need the answer, is the Blade of Balance from the Demon War a weapon you hear of?"
