Get on the Down With Fish bus

[arrowace]

WHO: Lilybells, House Wardens, Azdaja, others??
WHERE: Lily War Room
WHEN: Day 71 morning

[ After a few different discussion, Lily and Bluebell have invited some allies to discuss a problem and make some plans. They've probably put out like. Berries and water. Mute and Ananke stand at the front of the room, them speaking and him providing large illusions of the presentation. ]

Lights please. Ananke.






This is Eph'meris. It is not my home but . . . where I was most recently before . . . arriving in the Meadow. Next.








This is Meris. Meris was once the primordial . . . sea goddess that formed Eph'meris and its people. Now she is a . . . festering mass of malice, squatting in the astral sea and longing only . . . to drag all life she encounters with her into the abyss. Next.








This is the Merisian Pillar Array, which turns one or several individuals into the "Pillar" of Eph'meris. It allows the bulk of Meris's hatred, necrotic power, and general "evil bullshit" to be visited on . . . that one or several persons rather than . . . reality itself. It also fortifies those individuals' . . . bodies to bear this malice without being destroyed. It also . . . kills them. Next.









This is a small piece of the Merisian Pillar Array, that we are . . . currently calling the "Gate". It's purpose is to . . . ensure that the energy exerted by Meris upon reality is directed at the selected Pillar, but also that . . . some of this energy may be siphoned off to the Merisian power grid. I am told . . . this is "like electricity but worse" but I don't . . . actually know what electricity is. Next.









I believe these diagrams speak for themselves. Next.









Next.








This concludes the . . . background briefing. Everything should be clear now.

Comments

[endsjustified]

[takes a very long drink in the corner]

[finalbows]

[ distinctly TO charon ]

If you all are doing anything more hands-on than theoretical study with this, you need to let me know so I can be on the absolute other side of the pasture. I'm serious. I don't want any of this on me if it spills.

[endsjustified]

Help them translate at least the basic structure first so our chances of containment are significantly improved, if you please.

When I last tackled something like this, it was with two mages with actual ability to read such and significantly more specialization in these matters.

[finalbows]

You not only don't have to ask me to do that, you will be hard pressed to stop me from doing it. This... from what I'm seeing, this could get a very permanent kind of nasty. The only reason I wouldn't want to stand by with a pot lid is... Mn.

[ charon, you damn well know what he is. he's eminently infiltrable. ]

[endsjustified]

[mild]

I could shield you, but who knows how that holds up against a foreign god. But, thank you, for whatever help you can afford.

Are you feeling better?

[finalbows]

Please. I don't need a protector. You're better served up and on your feet in the middle of . . . whatever your part already IS in this.

[ much less caustic, ]

Anyway. Naturally, yes. I'm myself.

[endsjustified]

I'm glad to hear that.

[the corner of his mouth tilts]

As for my own role, I don't have all that much to offer in this, I'm afraid. Just some advice and possibly some organization.

[finalbows]

Use the red pen.

[endsjustified]

[quirks an eyebrow at him]

[finalbows]

I'm just saying, don't be sparing with the criticism. Good grief. ...I'm going to need another notebook for this.

[endsjustified]

This can wait until later if it's a distraction and not useful, but are you willing to run a compare-and-contrast for me?

[finalbows]

[ actually makes eye contact and not his-eyes-Big Damn Array-contact for the first time in this conversation ]

Speak.

[endsjustified]

[he displays the illusion of something that looks a lot like the array Mute presented, but with five outer nodes along the circle channeling to a sixth central point. the structure is different but the purpose is similar and decipherable. it must be noted that he cannot read involved writing, not because it isn't there, but because this is clearly a whole ass giant structure Charon has replicated a view of in miniature. literally it is too zoomed out by an exponential amount]

I use very old tools, but the ones who can translate and empower them are all dead, now.

[finalbows]

[ eyes dart over the details.
sucks air in slow thru teeth.
breathes out. ]

I shall write my notes in the Gaian script. It is the one we all, here, seem to share.

[endsjustified]

Thank you.

I also remember the writing in the nodes, but must diagram it from memory. This structure was destroyed shortly after its reactivation.

[finalbows]

Promise me luncheons and we'll make it our new hobby.

[endsjustified]

Tell me any dietary restrictions I need to know of, and I'll make it happen.

[finalbows]

I care for neither carrots nor red meat~.

...And I'm partial to blueberry.

[endsjustified]

[hums]

Eminently doable.