The Center of Time

[Shayuri]

Echo opens her mouth in dismay, and the quicksilver drains back into, or under, her skin.

She doesn't know what to say for a moment, then goes to the duracha.

"Will you be all right?" she asks. "I don't know how to give the sheb-sun back."

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"Well. That could have gone better. For the Augur at least.

Wisco steps over to the body and proceeds to search it. What Wisco is looking for is anything that might help them learn more about what lies ahead. He has no interest in the stuff per se. Coin, bling bling, whatever, he hands over to the duracha.



"Hmmm."

Searching the dead Augur you find a small pouch of glittering crystals, a silver rod topped with spheres of hard black metal with a green sheen like a beetle's wing, the fine set of robes he's wearing, and a chunk of green rock wrapped in what looks like braided grass stems to be held against his skin around his neck, under his high collar. The duracha takes everything carefully, blinking at them as if carefully remembering what they do.

"I... thank you," he says, looking at Wisco, then over at Antor. "I don't know how much more we could have survived. There is... enough to live on, if I can get away soon enough. Fis-handara was... He was not ready to go at any cost. I think we would have died here and been taken back. It wants all of us, if it can." He raises the chunk of green rock and holds it out to the group. "This was part of the... apparatus. Maybe it will help you. It has... resonance."

The hesitation in his speech is as if he's being certain he has all the words correct, rather than trying to be evasive.

Echo opens her mouth in dismay, and the quicksilver drains back into, or under, her skin.

She doesn't know what to say for a moment, then goes to the duracha.

"Will you be all right?" she asks. "I don't know how to give the sheb-sun back."

The duracha smiles faintly. "You are the sheb-sun. It knew it needed to protect... me. And it had to become more, so it did. Thank you. I'll be all right, because you're going to stop... the experiment." He takes a few deep breaths, and looks up at the braided river flowing above your heads. "The water echoes. It all comes from the same place, that's why the transportation... corridors are here. You have the key?"

 

[doghead]

Wisco, a Tough Nano who dreams of returning to the Wilderness

"I... thank you," he says, looking at Wisco, then over at Antor. "I don't know how much more we could have survived. There is... enough to live on, if I can get away soon enough. Fis-handara was... He was not ready to go at any cost. I think we would have died here and been taken back. It wants all of us, if it can." He raises the chunk of green rock and holds it out to the group. "This was part of the... apparatus. Maybe it will help you. It has... resonance."

"You are welcome. Fis-Handara was the scholar ..." Wisco says, indicating the body with a nod of his head. "I may be able to help ... " Wisco adds carefully [1].

Wisco takes the offered green rock and weighs it in one hand for a moment. He tosses it to Echo.

"I think you, with your natural curiosity, are most likely to find the best use for this. Why don't you keep it.

"We should bury the body."

[sblock=OOC]Not sure how the memory tree works, but if there is a possibility of being able to rebuild/reinforce/renovate some of the duracha memories, even just the general day to day stuff to help him reintegrate, Wisco will offer to try. If it is an option:

[roll0] Effort 2. INT Points (5 - 2 Edge) 3. Trained Numenera or Wilderness Lore if applicable.

Currently Wisco is at -4 INT pool. But that was from the Auger village, several days ago I think.[/sblock]

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

"You are welcome. Fis-Handara was the scholar ..." Wisco says, indicating the body with a nod of his head. "I may be able to help ... " Wisco adds carefully [1].

Wisco takes the offered green rock and weighs it in one hand for a moment. He tosses it to Echo.

"I think you, with your natural curiosity, are most likely to find the best use for this. Why don't you keep it.

"We should bury the body."

[sblock=OOC]Not sure how the memory tree works, but if there is a possibility of being able to rebuild/reinforce/renovate some of the duracha memories, even just the general day to day stuff to help him reintegrate, Wisco will offer to try. If it is an option:

[roll0] Effort 2. INT Points (5 - 2 Edge) 3. Trained Numenera or Wilderness Lore if applicable.

Currently Wisco is at -4 INT pool. But that was from the Auger village, several days ago I think.[/sblock]

"I would... be grateful for... help," the duracha says.

Wisco leans down to touch the duracha's temples, guided by a prompting flashing across his mind's eye from a memory not his own, and the little tree growing from his spine between his shoulder blades leans down too. A little seed grows from the tip of one of the branches, and drops onto the duracha's head. There it stays, tiny rootlets emerging to fasten itself securely. The duracha sighs and relaxes, touching the seed gingerly.

"Thank you. It makes things easier."

The group can bury the body of the Augur with an hour's work.

Above you looms the braided river, and in Father's Seren's hands, lie the rod you were given to traverse the way-shortening that lies between them...

[sblock=OOC]Yar, the village was a couple of days ago, so assuming you made any recovering rolls over the past few days, you're back up to full. The growing of the seed pulls 3 Int points from your pool, subtracted by your Edge, because you're an intellectual badass, so 1 Int damage.[/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

Echo looks at the strange green stone that she's been given. What the duracha said about her BEING the sheb-sun now was a little troubling. She'd already been trying to find out who she was. Now she was something new as well?

Whatever it had done to her didn't seem bad though. It might even have helped.

Holding the stone in her left hand, she fished the rolled-up map out of her pouch with the other and held it out for the duracha to see.

"Do you know what this is?"

(OOC - Also seeing if she can figure out what the stone is. I'll make a Numenera roll; Echo is specialized in it)
[roll0]

 

[doghead]

Wisco, a Tough Nano who Lives in the Wilderness

"You are welcome", responds Wisco to the duracha, as surprised at the result as the duracha doesn't seem to be.

Wisco watches Echo examine the green stone for a moment. A tired smile plays across his features for a moment.

That girl's curiosity will either be the death of us, or it will save us.

With a shrug, he sets to work burying the augur. It good honest work, digging a hole. And it keeps him from having to think for a while. Too many questions, not enough answers.

 

[Guest 11456]

Ohm Eleven, A Mechanical Nano who Talks to Machines

Ohm Eleven continues to wait with the wagon until the group starts to bury the augur. He gladly helped with the task. At last something he could understand.

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Echo looks at the strange green stone that she's been given. What the duracha said about her BEING the sheb-sun now was a little troubling. She'd already been trying to find out who she was. Now she was something new as well?

Whatever it had done to her didn't seem bad though. It might even have helped.

Holding the stone in her left hand, she fished the rolled-up map out of her pouch with the other and held it out for the duracha to see.

"Do you know what this is?"

(OOC - Also seeing if she can figure out what the stone is. I'll make a Numenera roll; Echo is specialized in it)
[roll0]

The duracha examines the map as Echo examines the stone. "It's a map of Augur-kala, though I do not recognize all of these power-points on it. It is... very old." He runs one hand down the edge. "It will show you more as you get closer. When you get to the city, it will show you the places in it. Touch it to the information grid, and it will connect."

The rock seems to be almost like a chunk of frozen liquid that will not melt, the raw edge in strange fractal patterns. There's a faint tug you can feel from it. If this is part of the experiment, then finding where it was broken off from could lead you to the heart of what caused this disaster.

--

Wisco and Ohm Eleven can quickly bury the Augur, giving him the peace he was not able to have in life.

The braided river, the transportation-corridor, still looms above you. Do you dare use the key you were given, or will you take another route to reach the city?

 

[Tashtego]

[sblock]OOC: I choose the intrusion! Somewhat delayed. Give my 1 XP to Echo for trying to resolve the last encounter without too much undo violence [/sblock]

Seregal sighs. "I'm glad we resolved that peacefully. It's a shame the Augur had to die." He scratches at his scruffy beard. It's itching in the heat. "I wonder which is the best..."

Then, he stares down at the rod he's carrying. It's glowing and sparking oddly. "Uh, should this be doing that?" he says, holding it out at arm's length.

Without warning, the rod activates. There's a flash of light and suddenly... the group finds themselves in a different place entirely...

[sblock]OOC: For Isida to do something nasty with... [/sblock]

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

The key sparks, suddenly the river pulses, and you are all flying across the land.

You cross a few riven gorges, rush through a field of glowing green orbs, float by some hovering old numenera that looks like a wheel of stained glass in the sky (an art installation? light diffuser? laser defense system?), and over a few small communities, their walls or barriers holding firm against the outside world. Ribbons of light and color are painted across the air, all coming to come convergent point in the far, far distance.

Your speed becomes dizzying, almost nauseatingly fast as the sun begins to set, but just as it touches the horizon, and the colors in the sky become more visible, you see the reason for your conveyances' haste.

The mountain.

It hovers impossibly in the sky, coming to a fine, inevitable point within a great shining city, glinting in the last rays of the sun. But that's not all it's reflecting. The colors you had seen streaming in the sky are thick here, and they're converging on the eastern part of the city where the mountain presses down.

You begin to slow when you are still some distance from the city, and you can see some of the damage you had dreamed about, been told about. Some parts are shiny with newness, others dull with age and tarnish, often on the same building. Lines of color crackle through the city, and you can see the lines of shine and rust shift as they move.

But between you and the city walls is a field crackling with the same energy. In that field, you see a huge, purplish, insect-like creature stalking, easily as large as a person. It dips its head to some of the lines of color, tearing into them, shaking them apart like a victorious queb with a kill-command. It's less than two hundred yards from this creature that you slowly settle to the ground. And stop.

You are here.