The Found Arcana – Chapter 5 [IC]
-
The Found Arcana – Chapter 5 [IC]
-
Bobby grinned, despite the situation, he felt elated. Or maybe exactly because of this situation. Adrenaline was a hell of a drug:
“Keep it in your pants. I’m here to talk not fight. And eat your apple, it’s good for you.But I’m curious why you of all the gangs in this god forsaken sprawl would be the one to let go of your roots of anarchy. Hell, when I grew up there were only two certainties: The system is out to screw you and the Halloweeners are trying to burn it down.
Is it the Crimson Lady? Has she finnally managed to put a leash on Nightmare?”
Mentally, Bobby was ready to turn into a column of lightning, should the situation turn dire.
-
“You know,” Carn-evil says, “a while back, some of you First Nation-types did a little drive-by. Plugged some of our guys. One bled out, a slow, painful death. We repaid the favor. Caught the two shooters, strung them up, and FWOOSH!” The sound imitates a rush of flame. “Also a slow, lingering way to die. Some say its the most painful way to go, with every nerve ending in your body screaming. Would you like to find out? You’re not part of this agreement, so tomorrow morning it’s open season, savvy?”
There’s a sharp whistle. One of the clowns juts a chin toward a couple Crimson Guard, who are watching closely with scowls on their faces. Carn-evil laughs and throws an arm around Bobby in a chummy manner to help allay the concerns of the Guard.
“You just think we’re anarchists. The reality is that everyone’s got a boss. Politicians report to the corps, CEO reports to the Board, Board reports to shareholders. It’s all a big loop; freedom’s an illusion. If you gotta have a boss, then have the biggest motherfragger in the room at your back. And ain’t nobody bigger than a dragon, and that’s what we got now. Urubia and Nightmare have an understanding. Nightmare’s my boss, so I’m going to do what Nightmare says until I’m the boss. And then we’ll do what I say. And what Urubia wants makes a lot more sense than what the politicians want, or what the CEOs want, or what the Board of Directors wants. So that’s what we’re going to do.”
The speech sort of makes sense. It has some holes that alcohol might be filling in. Bobby can definitely smell something strong – something horribly strong, not unlike gasoline – on Carn-evil’s breath. Carn-evil seems to be a pseudo-philosopher, which isn’t necessarily surprising among the lieutenant gangers of the world.
-
Jawsey’s mind churns, trying to figure out what the troll could be tripping on. Jawsey had always found the astral more interesting than trids, but as a kid stuck in an apartment for years he had half-heartedly watched a fair bit of trids back in the day
Spoiler:While he thinks, he steps forward and kisses the ring. This close he can speak more softly and still be heard, so in a confidential tone he tells the troll “You know that they whisper about you, that your time is almost up and rivals strive to be the one to pull you down. What can those who respect you do to show our devotion?”
-
Bobby’s grin turned wider, showing a lot of teeth.
“First of, I’m not First Nations.
In a whisper he continued
“Second, before you commit to that, you might want to consider a few facts:
Having a dragon as your boss means that beside being expendable at all times, you also get eaten for your fuck-ups. You think everyone has a boss? True. But there are degrees of freedom and dragons are not known for their indulgence of free spirits.
With Nightmare, you’ll never get to be the boss. And you know why? Because Nightmare isn’t human. He doesn’t age and he doesn’t slow down. How old are you anyway? 21, 24?
Nightmare will still be your boss when you keel over at 31. And that is an optimistic number. He doesn’t care about your creed – all he wants is souls. And yours will do just as well as those of your victims, once you aren’t useful to him anymore.
You don’t need to trust my word on this though. Find out for yourself what Nightmare really is. And when you do and want to know how you can get control over him instead of the other way round, give me a call. We’ll talk about what my help costs then.”
With that, Bobby drew the commcode of a burner link in spilled alcohol on the table.
Third, I don’t burn, I fry.” At that, he let a tiny bit of electricity flow through his hand and flicked the man’s arm from his shoulder.
-
Best not to let the dragon’s software on my hardware. She concludes, and as broke as she is she’ll pay with her own money to buy the games directly from the cooperates rather than buying the versions of a crimelord dragon. She finds herself something to drink, and chill out for a little while. Trying to identify more of the gangs involved in that potential alliance.
-
Carn-evil jolts backward far harder than Bobby’s spark, suggesting a certain amount of acting like a sports player trying to draw a penalty.
“Hey!” the Crimson Guards object. The Halloweeners back off, clearing the way for the Guard.
“What makes you think I don’t know?” Carn-evil asks with a malevolent grin. “Nightmare made me what I am today.” This is said through the grotesque demon-clown makeup.
The Crimson Guard – one male and one female – scoop Bobby up by his elbows and roughly march him out of the room. They both look human but they both seem much stronger than their size would suggest. Adepts, likely. They drop him once away from the Halloweeners.
“That’s strike one,” the female says. “And that’s because you’re new here.”
“There’s no strike two,” the male says. “Not today, not ever. We’ll toss you out, and we won’t go down the elevators first.” He motions to the windows that are twelve stories off the ground. “Savvy?”
But, still, Bobby notes that that the Halloweeners took note of the commlink number written out in spilled alcohol.
*****
AM sees the Crimson Crush pass by. The ork she cast on in the elevator still seems to have a bug in his ears, ants his pants, something. He stomps back and forth, clearly upset about something. A couple other orks trail him, trying to get him to calm down and enjoy himself. She can’t make out everything they say, but she catches, “… First Nations… we need this …” But the ork she cast on seems like something got underneath his skin, even though the spell should have worn off by now.
She sees the 405 Hellhounds and the Death Heads, who are getting along well. She also sees the Red Hot Nukes – dwarven adepts – drinking by themselves. They seem angry and bicker amongst themselves constantly. They’re drinking hard liquor and lots of it. AM remembers that Lysander said that they’re happy drunks and that they get less belligerent as time goes on. Seems like they’re not there yet – dwarves take a lot of booze to get tipsy – so they’re still arguing about something or other.
*****
The troll accepts Jawsey’s kiss and seems pleased by his words and his fealty.
“LET THEM HATE, SO LONG AS THEY FEAR!” the troll practically bellows. Although he’s not really talking to Jawsey; he seems to be aiming at a corner in the upper-right of the room. It seems to help him avoid eye contact with anyone as he talks over their heads.
“BUT IF THEY DO NOT FEAR THEN IT MUST BE THE PRIEST, YES? THE PRIEST FEARS NOTHING BUT IMPOTENT GODS. WILL NO ONE RID ME OF THIS MEDDLESOME PRIEST?!”
-
Bobby used that opportunity to make as graceful an exit as he could. When he had gained some distance he called his colleagues:
<<Ok, I might have done something stupid just now. I went and talked to the Halloweener head honcho Carn-Evil. He seems to be quite on board with being led by a dragon and said he knows what Nightmare really is. Still, I might have piqued their interest when I insinuated that I know how to control Nightmare. But by now, I’m pretty sure, Urubia has snagged that cauldron to control Nightmare into this alliance – or she really knows how to convince a free spirit of mayhem and destruction to do her bidding.AM, Jawsey, if you have the chance you could look around in the astral if you can find a trace of this true name thingy – it would most likely be kept here in the funhouse in the private parts of the building.
Oh and the Halloweeners will likely start hunting me come sunrise. So we might up our fire insurance now while we have the chance.>>
-
“Of course you are right, most fear you but the priest is scheming to make them bold. I don’t know yet how he is concealing himself, but I will investigate and let you know.”
Jawsey stepped back, bowed, and murmured “your faithful servant” , hoping that would meld well enough with the troll’s current world.
When he had a moment he replied to the team. <<nice. Maybe when we go out of here, we go home, back everything of value in the cars, then drive to a hotel for the night? Heat, hot soycaff, clean sheets, sprinkler systems…. Frag, that sounds so good I’ll cover tonight if we get out of here ok>>
<<as for astral, I’ll see. I don’t think the Crimson Guard like others playing with their toys, so it will have to be done carefully. Speaking of which, have either of figured out how to go up from here? Maybe we can start with some physical scouting>>
-
The troll lifts his hand magnanimously to Jawsey. He still doesn’t make eye contact but he sits down on his recliner/throne and begins to whisper to himself about priests.
You see people flowing freely up and down between the 12th and the 13th floors. There seems to be a lot of dancing and music coming from the 13th floor. Whatever is up there, it’s a party floor too.
You overhear other people talking about the roof too, although it’s more of a quiet space. Dark corners for those who need some privacy.
-
<<We need to make sure to do some obvious work to keep the peace, so that if Andrew checks up on us he’ll hear about that — although he did say that keeping the peace could involve getting trouble makers kicked out. So keep your eyes out for places we could set people against each other and call it ‘keeping the peace.’ That is what I’m hoping for the beetle-head troll I just talked to, but I don’t know that we can rely on him.>>
<<Also if you see a place I could leave my body for a bit while going on an astral explore, let me know. If nothing else I could do it with the zoned out Rusty Stilettos, but I wouldn’t complain about a safer option.>>
<<All of that said, I’m going to head up a floor and check it out. I’m not much of a dancer, but I’m thinking the astral energy will be worth experiencing. And who knows what a coin will buy up there? Do you still have plans on this level, or ready to check something else out for a bit?>>
-
The orc takes AM’s interest, and she quietly follows them and assenses him. Clearly, she has no means to cause such distress beyond a few minutes so perhaps her influence resonated well with real fears the orc had? or perhaps someone else interfered? She tries to figure out what the problem is.
Spoiler:Assensing: 10d6t5 2
-
Bobby replied to Jawsey: <<Let’s meet up. I can watch over your body while you look around. I had my warning already – one more and I’m out on my ear. Better if I keep quiet for a moment.
Let’s go up to the 13th and meet at the elevator.>>
-
JJawsey took his time moving through the crowd, periodically asensing to see if everyone was sharing in the high spirits, or not. But he didn’t do as much as he’d like, trying to avoid too much attention from the Crimson Guard.
But when he got up to the next floor he unabashedly took a long astral look, soaking in the energy of the floor.
-
AM looks at the ork on the astral. It seems that her spell has dominoed, creating a chain reaction of thoughts or emotions that are leaving him agitated. They’re really under his skin. He’s not enjoying the party and seems annoyed that the other Crimson Crush aren’t as agitated as he is.
There’s a broad staircase leading up from the 12th floor to the 13th floor. It’s not hard to hear the pulsating music and from the floor above. Ascending the stairs, you can clearly hear punk/industrial music. There seems to be a rush of people heading up to 13 from the 12th floor, same as you.
“They’re playing Grim Aurora, my favorite!” says one ganger (a 405 Hellhound) excitedly to another ganger (a Death Head), who are both racing up the stairs.
Jawsey knows the Seattle music scene well. Grim Aurora are a local band who are popular enough to tour all over the UCAS.
“They’re not playing Grim Aurora,” the Death Head corrects, “it’s actually Grim Aurora!”
Holy drek… Jawsey’s pace quickens up the stairs. Grim Aurora is popular enough to pack a stadium, but they’re here tonight basically doing a club show??
They are. The astral is absolutely lit up, as dense and charged as Jawsey has ever seen or felt it. The feeling of exclusivity is as thrilling as any drug. The dance floor is packed, not least because Urubia is in the middle of it in dragon form. She’s head-banging, as much as a dragon can. There are some gangers riding on her back, a few brave enough to ride her neck like a bucking bronco. Jawsey notes that all the gangers riding her are Awakened.
Live music… from a nationally famous band that could play in front of crowds 10x or 100x bigger… and they’re absolutely slaying it tonight. There is a very real feeling among of the crowd that this is it. This it the place to be. People not here will envy you. This is why everyone wants a seat at Urubia’s table.
-
Grim Aura? Here? Seriously?
Not that they played his favorite style of music, but they are Seattle heroes! He has seen a band that once opened for Grim Aura, and it was one of the best shows he’d seen. Throw in the energy, and a FRAGGING DRAGON ON THE DANCE FLOOR, and it was almost overwhelming.
If Jawsey had been more comfortable on a thrashing dance floor he have just lost himself in the moment. As it was, the sense of physical danger was enough to keep him somewhat focused.
He looked around for Bobby, and he looked around for a place where he could dump his stupid body for a while, but most of all he watched the astral to see if anyone was dancing astrally, or if they were all sticking with their meat. If going astral was permitted, first of all he wouldn’t miss it for all the T-Birds in Denver, but secondly it might give him a window to go exploring.
-
“Grim Aurora? Who’s that? Yeah I lived under a stone for a while, why are you asking?”
Bobby had no sense for the sensation around him. If anything the music was causing a latent head ache. So he found a bunch of shade users and unceremoniously shoved their bodies from their seats onto the floor, so he and Jawsey could sit down.
“I’ll keep an eye open for trouble. Don’t go out for too long. I’ve got to lay a trap on the road for the Halloweeners, before they leave the party.”
-
She considers her options, from blessing him with the charisma to make a compelling argument to leave things be. She is painfully aware that the Crimson guard are all around, and that she is the least imposing person in the world, and so decides to not risk it anymore. Instead, she asks the agitated orc “Not in the mood for partying? Perhaps I can buy you a drink instead?” she says in an attempt to slightly flirt/make conversation. Normally she would not dare to approach them, but somehow the fact that everyone is so positive and the Crimson Guard protecting her – AM is gaining some courage.
-
Jawsey barely took time to thank Bobby before his body was on the floor, and his essence was out and dancing.
People who hadn’t experienced being astral at a concert sometimes wondered how you could dance in the astral, if you couldn’t hear the music. As soon as you were in the astral at a concert thought, it was hard not to dance. Everyone’s auras pulsed to the music, and that much life energy acting in synch made the whole astral feel like like it was pulsing. Add in the emotions of the band, and you barely noticed that you couldn’t hear the instruments or words.
There were true astral dance artists out there — including some here tonight. Jawsey wasn’t one of them. And just like a burly orc might grab some respect on the dance floor even if they were not the best of dancers, having strong magic helped make an impression. Jawsey’s own magic was unimpressive. He’d seen a few people who unique abilities to control their auras, which could be mesmerizing if they followed along with the music. Jawsey wasn’t even quite sure how you learned tricks like that.
All the same, he felt he did at astral dancing. When it came to the basics feeling the astral beat he was good, and he had a strong sense of his astral form and its abilities and limits. So he emotion surfed the crowd for a bit, then during a period of heavy beat but less emotional variation he found another form willing to dance together, a three-dimensional whirling of forms that was possibly the best training for astral combat that he knew of. Then when the emotional intensity picked up again he just did some free-form moves in a clear space.
His astral presence at the concert hopefully noted, he headed back to his body long enough to check that all was well, that Bobby hadn’t gotten bored and wandered off, and to let any observers know that sometimes he went back to his body.
When he came out again he kicked downward, to see if he could pass through the floor into the level below. If the floors were somehow proof against astral intrusion, it seemed better to find out on the public floors than the private ones.
After that he went and joined the spiral of forms swirling above the band, eventually getting higher enough to rub against the ceiling. He then pivots head down, legs kicking up through the ceiling, before diving back down and across the crowd, again riding the emotional waves.
This time when he gets back to his body he passes along to the team what he has found about the ability to astrally pass between floors.
-
The ork looks around with a confused expression before looking down enough to notice AM. It takes a moment for her words to sink in, either because he’s so agitated or because he’s surprised that she’s speaking to him in the first place. After a long, uncomfortable pause he finally says, “Yeah, okay, you can spend your coins on me. I won’t stop you.” His brow is furrowed and his overall expression is a scowl. He seems to be trying to drill into AM with his eyes, as he’s clearly confused about why a diminutive elf would be talking to him at all.
*************
Bobby’s primary job while Jawsey is ‘out’ is to make sure that he doesn’t get trampled by the mob that’s thrashing to the punk/industrial music. Nobody seems to be targeting Jawsey or paying any undue attention to him.
Bobby catches a look from some Halloweeners. Different ones this time, as the Rager seems to be dressed like a ghoul. (That’s not actually a ghoul, is it? Would they let a ghoul in here?) The Rager and his/her squad give Bobby feral grins. The Rager draws a thumb across its throat toward Bobby. So evidently word has gotten around to the other Halloweeners that Bobby’s a target.
*************
On the astral, Jawsey is having a blast. There are plenty of mundanes on Deepweed who can’t process the overwhelming assensing sensations and are thrashing around on the dance floor like bakebrains as a result.
Did Urubia just look at Jawsey?
Similarly, there are enough mundanes who are tripping on Shade that their astral dancing/flying is clumsy, to say the least. Jawsey’s own movements are fluid in comparison, and his familiarity with the astral realm sets him apart. In fact, he can sense some envious glances from the Crimson Guard along the perimeter of the room, especially the adepts who can’t project.
Urubia definitely just looked at Jawsey.
He has no trouble flying through the ceiling or the floor. It’s possible there are warded sections of the Fun House, but they’re not around here.
Just as he’s about to return to his body, Jawsey gets a distinct look from Urubia. She juts her jaw up in a clear ‘come hither’ motion. It seems she wants Jawsey to dance with her! The level of jealousy from the Crimson Guard just dialed up to 11.
-
Bobby returns the look and takes out the last apple from his basket, tossing that carelessly asside, then he takes one bite ouf of the apple and visibly crushing it for the ghoul rager to see. After that he started licking the sweet juice one finger at a time after tossing the apple remains over his shoulder.
Not that he expected to deter the retaliation, but maybe that guy would hessitate for a crucial moment when the time came. Besides, all his instincts told him to answer such a challenge…
Log in to reply.