Renew the Pact: Time of our Lives, part 23

Log Info

• Title: Renew the Pact: Time of our Lives, part 23
• Emitter: Whirlpool
• Characters: Paenitia, Aryia, Seyardu, Lyme, Fallon
• Place: Goldcoast of Veyshan, Tashraan: the choatic streets, Akoniril's Rented room.
• Time: Friday, November 19, 2021, 8:55 PM
• Summary: The Time Trippers escape the Void Vulture and return to Akoniril. She's glad to see them. So glad. So. Very. Glad. To be involved in this. Speculation on what is going on occurs, and they run into a wall. More information is needed. Seyardu suggests a Commune with Althea, it could provide answers. Akoniril is told not to interfere. The silverscale casts the spell and some questions are asked. The first one, can Akoniril be trusted, and surprisingly the answer is yes. Oh dear, she's been outed as having possible altruistic motivations, how will she ever live this down? It's also determined, a Shard of Animus is not the direct cause. Paenitia suggests that perhaps Farland initiated the loop, by visiting Shaevin after they first confronted him, and that's why they were arrested - without him. This isn't asked. They take a moment to consider more questions, hopefully they'll get them in before the flames run out.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  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.
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=  As the GM  -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Whirlpool    5'0"                Otyugh                      I am stinky!
-=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=

Previous

The time trippers continue to flee the Void Vulture that has appeared out of time. Oddly, only they can see it, and it seems, interact with it. They struggle to make headway through the crowd, with Fallon pulling ahead only to be held up by Aunt Ethel. Lyme demonstrates that Oruchs are frighteningly bad at acrobatics, and scares the street clear. Paenitia commandeers a wagon, gets it moving and encourages the others to hop on. Finally they are pulling ahead, but where to go?

The void creature and the Temple of Navos might interact badly.

Aryia signs, "I really don't know, to be honest." <handsign>

This could be more helpful if it wasn't behind the little knight's back.

"The idea I have is this," Paenitia says, turning to look at the passengers, "take it back to Akoniril. We see if she sees it? This is useful, yes?"

Lyme grins.

Seyardu says, "I don't think we want to be found by it right this moment"

Paenitia says, "Escape is always the possibility."

Lyme says, "Oh, lead it to Akoniril. She can demolish it or she wont, and we'll LEARN THINGS."

Seyardu says, "I've really got no clue what to do now to be honest"

Seyardu says, "I don't really want to go there, but the only alternative safe place really isn't much better"

...going back to Akorinil's isn't too hard. It does take a while, but you're able to locate it. She's not thrilled to see you again, since it means the loop is ongoing. She's going to ask for all the details.

...and be smug you came to her instead of went to the Temple of Navos.

Now

Paenitia clanks into the generous accommodations provided by the High Priestess of Taara. Clearly the decadence of this hotel is meant to soften them up for future endeavors.

"So, the good news, the vaults very secure before we get there." The Red Knight says cheerfully, her mask all smiles. It is always smiles, "the bad news, we go there, they are not now. Also the thing out of time is chasing to kill us."

She wobbles her hand in the air, "it maybe come for you, or not. This we do not know."

Once they finally stop /running/, Aryia just face plants into the floor, breathing heavily as sweat stains her clothes. She's... going to need a minute for five.

A hand blindly points to Paenitia, and gives a thumbs up to back up these claims.

At least they did not seem to be actively chased for the time being, but Seyardu does not have the cart linger after they are dropped off, and a sizeable payment is made for their work. The driver is not told where they are going, and they walk the last bit of the way there in case they are somehow questioned later.

"Apologies, Aryia, I am merely taking some precautions." Seyardu states, allowing herself to join them inside. "it is as Dame Paenitia says, there is a lot going on here, now."

"...well, I've never heard of whatever it is that's chasing you, but I'm sure it can't find you here. You're safe here."

Akorinil Belvade runs a finger over the doorway you've passed through.

"Here, in the shallows, very little can find you should I choose it to be so. But it does sound like your little ventures through time have caused some ripples, hm?"

Paenitia tilts her head, glancing at the doorway before she turns her full mask on to Akoniril, "The ripples and the big splash. There two thing of note. Most the bystanders do not see it, but the guards do."

"So it seem, the ones in the time loop see." She taps on the pencil beard on the bottom of her mask, "And maybe, last time we go to the Temple of Navos, and that why Shauvin try pacifying it."

"Anyhow, the tasks do not change, there still the things that are take. We see ourselves try take them before." She shrugs, "So maybe, we are the Time Thieves as well."

After Aryia was done sweating all over the floor, she groans silently and gets to her feet, a shaky sigh leaving her. She waves off Seyardu's apologizes. She chose to ran the entire way. Hell, she was faster than the wagon. It was only logical for her to go on foot.

She gives a shrug towards Paenitia. "Maybe. Probably something we tried before and it didn't work out." <Handspeech>

"Well, I can tell you at least, that we have not managed to die in any of these looping time events, that much is certain. At least, not to that creature." Seyardu states, looking around, and nodding. "There is a reason why messing with time is not something down lightly, something which the head priest at the temple of Navos forgot to mention. There are servants of certain, concepts, which push back when time attempts to be changed."

"That being said, there is no way we could have started this whole looping business, as things were out of sorts before we got here. Either someone did so, or something caused it, an object."

"That creature should have known we were not the ones to cause this though, at least I feel so. Which means that whatever caused this may have corrupted it, like with those cultists in the temple of Navos, perhaps?"

"There is precious little information on this sort of thing, but I have come across a few scrolls held in some of the vaults at the temple of Daeus in my studies."

"I wouldn't be so sure. You are anomalies -- " a pause, "Oh.. OH. *WE* are anomalies."

Akorinil sighs heavily.

"No, no. Time is not to be trifled with. None of this should be possible unless there's a deeper flaw. You see that, don't you?" She screws up her face in distaste.

"So finding the originating source of the loop, what triggered the original one, as this is not that. Chances are, you'll be wanted for murder instead of Farland next time."

"So..." Paenitia says, crossing her arms and looking up at Akoniril, "... when we return with the Reliquary of Ahazi, you know that, and you suggest it strange, that it seem to be a Shard of Animus before he is killed, that go back in time to them."

She taps the chin of her mask some more, "And, you know Farland blame for the Murder last time, when we did not, and you are a part of this. So... maybe he do the thing that cause it?"

The little lucht glances at her companions, "Was Farland say Shaevin owe him? Wait, they are friends, maybe he know, or with he help, he use the room and he is the initiating thing?"

She holds her hand out speculatively, "Is there a grand master plan, or he just think the easiest way get the items at auction is steal them from the past with the Navosian help... and then it all go wrong?"

Aryia couldn't help but feel a small tinge of joy in her that Akorinil was going to be wrapped up in this madness anyways, and that made a smile flicker onto her lips. One that was hidden from her rubbing at her face. She sighs into a hand, trying to process everything mentioned. "I don't think so," she motions to Paenitia, hoping someone will fill her in. "I don't think Farland knew about the time stuff. He didn't catch that the items were changing. And Shaevin wasn't happy to see him, but they have ties."

After a long pause, she throws out there with signs. "So we just... find the thing that made everything fuck up, and repeat it? Except do it right? Or do it backwards?"

Thinking... "So... find the place where things are messing up? Is that it?" she tries, straining her brain.<Handspeech>

"It is possible, but I do not think that likely. we had an alibi for Farland ever since entering the city, do we not?" Seyardu states once everyone had said their share. "It was only after the auction that he disappeared, and before then, the only time is during the night we arrived, and I do not believe he was missing then, though it is a possibility. And yes, if he had already been back in time, he would have known things were not right at the auction."

"We need to find what is not letting time settle. And either fix it, or deal with it. Shaevin, I do not know if he was corrupted the first time we met, or is still currently, had some manner of idea on how to fix it, if that was not a complete lie."

"Perhaps there is a thief and it isn't you," agrees Akorinil with the Lucht, thoughtfully, "Perhaps you simply tried to beat him to the punch and the results were ... poor."

She narrows her eyes in thought.

"...say, how did you get them to agree to let you in the vault?"

Aryia gesture, "oh boy look at the time we have someplace to be" <handsign>

"Farland could still be the one," Paenitia says, addressing both priestesses, "after the auction, after we speak to Shaevin then go back to the Inn, maybe he go back to the Temple. He convince Shaevin send him back, he does. Or maybe, that was why Shaevin so determine we stay."

She taps at her nose, "Maybe Shaevin realized the jig is up, or something."

Then, there is that question, "Ah, the vault. Well, we come across the key and no one was watch the door. The agreement was in the negative, they not there to stop us."

They... being an undefined they.

"If there another thief, not us, not Farland... the options are few." She summarizes.

Aryia looks between all, her answering the question posed by lightly gesturing towards Paenitia, as if their answer was all that was needed.

She coughs.

All this speculation just makes her pinch the bridge of her nose. "... so... the guards saw that monster. They must have been a part of the auction later on if they saw it. Or interfered in some way before. And..."

She groans, leans back against the wall, and slides down to the floor with her face buried into her knees.

"... we can't wait for Farland to get here because that'd cause a lot of problems if we meet ourselves. So... I... don't know..." she trails off, sighing in defeat. <Handspeech>

They are all getting the 'time travels headaches'.

"The options are few, yet I do not feel I can blame Farland without further information." Seyardu sighs. "It seems we have exhausted nearly every avenue of what to do with what we currently know. So perhaps it is time to ask for further guidance through ritual? I would need supplies for it, and not inexpensive ones, but I could ask the Celestial Mother, Althea, for answers to some of the questions we have, and perhaps for further guidance. I think it worth the try, and I would be ready to do so today."

Lyme says, ".."

Lyme nods, folding his arms on his chest. "Ask your god, see what you're told." When in doubt, ask some random sky-spirit!

"Oh, yes. This I've *got* to see," says Akorinil. "I promise, pinky-swear even, not to be a bad influence."

She seems just fine with this. Really.

"I am for it too." Paenitia says decisively, "It is a good thing we do not ask Tarien, His answer, would be that how it now is the way it should be."

Aryia perks up, getting to her feet. "Thank fuck, something solid." <Handspeech>

"As long as you promise not to burst into flames during this." Seyardu sighs, already preparing to go about her business. Perhaps Lady Akorinil already had the supplies on hand, but whatever offerings a Taara would like would likely not work for other gods. No one was losing their tongue, or taking someone else's for this ritual, that was for certain.

After a brief pause to check on the room and their questionably gracious host, the cleric begins the process of preparations. An elaborately carved stone bowl is set down in the middle of the room, and the cleric sits down before it. Sand is poured into a mound within it as they begin chanting in the draconic tongue, and a hole is made in the center, into wish numerous dried and crushed herbs are place. Following this, holy water is poured around it, and the herbs are set alight into a bright green flame that covers the entire inner surface of the bowl.

But not before some of the holy water is flicked at Lady Akorinil. Thankfully, though perhaps disappointingly to some, only the bowl appears to burst into divine flame.

"We have until the flames die out to ask what we can, with answers of affirmation or denial."

The cleric states, stepping back and looking to the others.

It's also important to make sure Akoniril isn't interfering. Someone will have to watch her with magic sensitive eyes. This would be Seyardu, as no one else is magically sensitive that way.

Akorinil is just observing, like she said she would be. She remains quiet and stays out of the way. She can be good. On occasion. She hasn't cast anything, but does have lingering magic, likely from a bunch of magical items. She has clearly not cast any spells, and doesn't have anything that could be stilled or silent.

She's doing exactly what she said she would.

They'll get ten questions. A moment or ten are taken to consider what the first one would be. The group discusses, an elimination would be good, but how to phrase it. Much like wishes, the exact syntax of a question can make it very useful or useless. One can presume the God is aware of her cleric's predicament. The answers will be yes or no.

Lyme says, "Okay. So, what do we need to exclude? Can we succeed? Can we return to our own time? Is Shaevin the thief?"

"We will get to our own time by the regular time travel," Paenitia chuckles, "I think more, 'Akoniril, Paenitia, Aryia, Lyme, Fallon, Farland, Shaevin, Seyardu is the time thief'"

Aryia signs, "assuming the thing causeing the issue is a person and not an item." <Handsign>

Seyardu answers Aryia, "I think that's worth clarifying first."

"What is the first?" the Red Knight asks.

"The thing causing the issue." The silverscale translates the signs.

"That is not the time vault that sent us back?" Paenitia says, "I think that the thing is cause the time-loop most directly. See if the Shard of Animus causing."

Aryia signs, "so... question one" <Handsign>

Akorinil, however, remains where she is. She stays silent, keeps her mouth shut. She folds her arms across her chest. And waits.

Patiently.

"Okay, so the first one is, can the Lady Akoniril be trusted with helping for this?" Paenitia asks, leaning over the flames. She turns her head, looking at Seyardu, "You will let me know if this how we ask, and also that if any question is going to count or only the one we shout in there."

"HMPH!"

Akorinil exclaims.

Except, there's no answer.

"I believe that it will only respond if I am the one to ask, but I would take all your input." Seyardu replies quickly, before turning back to the flaming bowl. "Celestial Mother, grant us our wisdom and guidance. Can Lady Akorinil Belvade, who is in the room with us this moment, be trusted to help us resolve the problems faced?" she asks, before the answer is swiftly returned. "Very well then."

But there is an answer, a palpable one you can feel. It's grudging and guarded in its tenor. It is affirmative, she can be trusted, but the guardedness implies it's more than likely because you've already dragged her into your loop.

Lyme looks over, "You're vetted by someone else's god. I think you get a gold star." He pauses, looking towards the flames, licking his lips.

"Okay, then, ask if the Shard of Animus is the direct cause," Paenitia suggests, "Maybe there more you can put in the question, like it the active force and not a thing that is disguise as the other thing."

The Red Knight trusts the silver-scaled sith'makar to translate it into a yes or no question.

Seyardu turns and nods to Paenitia at the question. "For the events causing distortion in time we must fix, is it caused by a shard of Animus?" She asks, waiting for a response.

Lyme nods, folding his arms across his chest, listening.

Akoniril glances at Lyme, adjusts the fold of her arms.

There's a discontent rumbling. The answer, it would appear, is in the negative.

It is not directly caused by a shard, it would appear.

"Hmmm..." Paenitia says, tapping at the chin of her mask again. "I need the moment to think the more questions. Do you have the ideas?"

Do they? They might. Let's find out!

In good time...