A missive unto an obdurate blinkered shortsighted clod,
AKA
Dear Diary,
We came across something earlier today which really put our whole mission in perspective for me.
Enlightenment began before that even, as we were progressing toward the train station, where we had hoped to pick up the trail of Soto-sama. A section of the road before us, several blocks wide and at least a mile long, had been turned into what appeared to be a nature preserve. Small waterways abounded, with large areas of tall grass and abundant copses of trees. Those among us sensitive to such things detected no eidolon, although there was definitely an unseen magical presence in the tall grass. An elephant in the grass, clearly the victim of some severe ginsu action, made us wary of getting too close to the tall grass ourselves. Sill, as the nature preserve offered us a route apparently free of cyber threat we (metaphorically) donned our pith helmets and trekked across the savanna.
Whilst thus engaged we chanced to venture too close to one of the tall grassy areas. One of the hitherto-fore unseen predators made itself visible at the edge of the tall grass giving us a serious appraisal. As it didn’t seem interested in attacking us immediately, we came to the conclusion that it was a territorial display warning us away. Cyra performed her mojo on it, whereupon it settled into a more relaxed attitude and promptly faded from sight. It finally brought home to me the idea that we didn’t need to wantonly slaughter everything and everyone native to this world which we might come across. I hadn’t realized until that point just how much of a ‘kill it before it kills us’ mindset had taken hold of me since we stepped through the door.
The end of the nature preserve left us in an area still looking like wilderness, but clearly separate. The treehouse complex complete with restaurant was proof of that. Locals had been scavenging recently, but something had caught them and torn them apart. Said something was sensed on the level above, a private dining area. It didn’t seem bothered by our arrival on the upper level, but it became hostile when William and Mena tried to sense what eidolon it had about it. A scuffle ensued, ending when Mena created a cage around it. Falmorath proved useful in calming the creature, reminding me again that occasionally not fighting could be a viable option in this world. Mena eventually figured out that the creature had been originally two different creatures who had been unnaturally merged via magical (probably umbra) means. She then went ahead and proved this hypothesis by separating the creature into two different creatures resembling a chimp and a giant lizard.
Continuing towards the train station we came across the overgrown an unfinished castle, along with the rest of an unfinished, and now quite overgrown, amusement park. Magic was detected in the Fun House, the most complete structure in the park. After being subjected to much funness we encountered Jason again, who pronounced this place his home. In exchange for our stories he offered us information. Sturm and William obliged him and we learned that Morholt, the Knight of Beasts, had captured an Annanaki, divided it in two, inserted one half in a creature at the top of the Hive, and used slivers of the other half to establish his control over members of the local population. Somewhere along the way he lost control.
Some of this we already knew, but it was nice to have it confirmed. Jason also told us he believed Morholt has a back door to the Grand Stair and a Domain on Fierce. The existence of a back door we had already come to suspect, but the creation of a personal domain locally was a new wrinkle.
In response to our request for a current location for Soto-sama Jason said he had heard that she had been at a Buddhist temple located inside the prison built into the intrusion. That information was three days old.
Leaving the amusement park we considered where we might rest up for a while. A nearby mansion, undamaged as far as we could see, looked inviting. Upon further investigation, we decided it was someone’s personal Domain, and a primal power source to boot. The guardian dragon looked sufficiently formidable that even Sturm advocated withdrawal.
We retired to the unfinished castle, which we made sufficiently habitable, and, as we were within the area which Jason had already warded Mena checked in with Baudemagus. She was told that Soto-sama is believed to have a Domain in Fierce as well and that our primary mission is now the artifact. He also told her that Jason is insane.
The train station proved an interesting problem. We discovered the nearby nuclear power plant was still operating and the train station had power. We also found a dozen war robots patrolling the main concourse. Before entering the concourse William produced tickets for us and I reached out through Falmorath and encouraged the station defenders to make helping passengers their main concern. Upon being challenged we presented our tickets, and I was sufficiently taken off guard by my apparent success that I almost missed my cue when we were asked to provide identification. Using Falmorath again I created IDs based on those we had found earlier on the dead scavengers in the treehouse. I realized afterward that I should have been subtly encouraging them to not challenge our IDs or our tickets, but fortune favors the foolish and we were allowed to proceed unmolested.
We were somewhat subdued on the train ride, as the war machines carried out their protective function by riding the train to the port with us.
Upon disembarking at the port we got our first good look at the port proper. The enormity of our task was now standing symbolically before me. Literally standing in the harbor, in water which looked only ankle deep on it, was a mech. A Jaeger. A Giant Jaeger. Back at the academy I had been introduced to the giant Japanese monster movies. I had considered them nothing more than escapist fiction. Now, looking at this Jaeger, I begin to wonder about that. Had this Jaeger existed before the current crisis? Did giant monsters exist in this world that such a mech was considered a necessity? Or was the aura of such creatures in some other gossamer world so great that echos of them resonated in worlds scattered all along the Grand Stair? We sat at a harbor-side bar for a while having (in my case at least) fruity drinks with umbrellas in them while inane thoughts whirled through my head and others deliberated more practical concerns like the fact that the Jaeger was fortified with and protected by eidolon more powerful than any of us could hope to touch, that the artifact was most likely inside the Jaeger, and that we could not come up with any way we could hope to get inside the thing (although Sturm seems to really want one of his own).
While we were watching ‘we’ (that is those who can see such things) saw a bit of eidolon, similar to those we and released when we freed the locals of their influence earlier, fly into the Jaeger. The overall increase in eidolon was negligible, and we decided this rate of augmentation caused us no concern for the near future.
The final consensus was that the Jaeger was on a sort of eidolon induced stasis, and short of an infusion of eidolon on the order of what was sitting on the top of the Hive it was unlikely to come to life. This thought made us reconsider what we wanted to accomplish at the Hive. The thought that releasing that much eidolon might activate the Jaeger is disturbing. (Although a small voice at the back of my head is asking just how anyone is expecting to get this Jaeger through a Door.)
Back at the castle, Cyra tried to scry out the prison to locate Soto-sama. I spent my time with a quart of aged Kentucky Bourbon and a keg of Newcastle Brown Ale, tinkering with my souped up shotgun and enhanced ammunition, and contemplating the enormity of our task in both real and symbolic terms. I also started thinking about the bottle and the keg, neither of which I expected to seriously reduce, and the nature of waste when you can essentially wish something into being rather than it being a limited resource. Would it be less wasteful if, when I was done, I deleted the remains as I had created them in the first place? Answers to all of these questions eluded me.
After finishing her scrying, Cyra informed us she had found a warded area corresponding to where we think the prison is, along with guards/gatekeepers at the known entrances. We believe we have a current location for Soto-sama. The question now becomes how to establish contact.
Written by Dave Nebiker