|
Post by Lucas Chevalier on May 19, 2021 16:06:49 GMT -8
Lucas contacted Kai, letting her know that he had some updates for her.
Per usual, Lucas met up with Kai at a predetermined spot. He got into her Honda Civic and off they went to their favorite coffee spot. Even though it was later in the evening, there was no shortage of cars in the drive thru, filled with overworked employees who just got off shift and were in dire need of a boost of caffeinated goodness before their commute home. Once it was their turn to place their order, Lucas fished his DD perks card out of his wallet.
"Can you order me a large Cappuccino, with two vanilla shots, and a shot of caramel? Oh, and two shots of espresso on the side. I have a feeling we're going to be doing more research tonight or at least I am."
He grinned at the Polychromatic while holding his DD perks card out to Kai.
"I think after this drink my next drink is free."
|
|
|
Post by Kai Rose on May 19, 2021 18:14:02 GMT -8
Kai checked out the card with one hand as she gripped the steering wheel with the other and placed their orders. Hers was a six-pack of varied donuts (four with sprinkles) and a double-double.
"You can have my stamp. You're probably the only person I go to Dunkin' Donuts with lately." You didn't keep a figure like Kai's crushing donuts regularly, even with the workouts. Her fitness level was a matter of life and death, and so it was a guilty pleasure that she would pay for later. "It's the least I can do," she teased.
Given that he was providing info, she'd pay. It was only fair.
"Research, huh?"
Sounded like some Nerd Shit.
|
|
|
Post by Lucas Chevalier on May 19, 2021 20:41:29 GMT -8
"Sweet, thanks Kai."
Free drink, here he comes. Even though he was making more money now, he would always appreciate a good deal. The bigger his savings account was, the more financial security he had incase his brain went awry again.
"Lots of it. I'm trying to work on putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together. There's no shortage of them."
Once his drink arrived he took a long sip of it before he dived into his findings.
"Okay, so here's what I've found out so far and my current working theories. Golden Boy has been turned into an anchor for multiple ghosts. In order to pull that off, someone would have to be a powerful necromancer because even anchoring one ghost to someone takes a lot of work. I don't think it was a freak accident because of whatever happened when he messed around in the Underworld. I mean, it is possible that somehow when he tried to open it up, he messed it up...but it takes a lot of work to become an anchor. What's even stranger is that there are no ghosts in the streets of Vegas. So, whoever decided to turn him into an anchor did intentionally. Maybe it was a punishment by whoever actually controls the Underworld gate for messing around with the gate.
When I was in Ostara, I activated my Bind the Dead ability--the one that lets me see into Twilight--and suddenly I went blind when the Rite went off." He looked down at his text messages. "I reached out to Roger and he told me it was because we have a deal with the Hedge Ghosts to help protect us. I figured out that the reason we moved away from human sacrifices to having Lost make the sacrifice is because the Hedge Ghosts feed off of glamour. Personally speaking, I am on board with this exchange.
Here's where I find myself uncertain on my next steps. If we are working with Hedge ghosts to keep us safe, that's a lot better than the alternatives, and I don't want to mess around with that. From a Winter perspective, Golden Boy messing around with the Underworld gate like that was a big no-no. The last thing we want is folks thinking they can learn how to open gates and accidentally releasing all ghostly hell on the city. My main curiosity lays in why Fawkes involved himself in assisting Golden Boy. "
Lucas paused, wanting to give Kai a chance to share her thoughts, and see what her reaction to all of this was.
|
|
|
Post by Kai Rose on May 19, 2021 22:29:39 GMT -8
Kai thought about it as she began chewing on a sprinkle ring, the occasional red or blue line dropping down onto her lap. The kid was fucked, because someone had put him there. That, she already knew. However, his logic about it being the case that ghosts were stuck on him on purpose and there were no ghosts in the streets of Vegas was new. Someone powerful grabbed the ghosts from wherever they were and put them on him.
"Hedge ghosts?"
Blink. They had people diving into the Underworld and there were no ghosts in Vegas, but suddenly they had nice ghosts in the Hedge to work with?
"Okay."
Browns. Skeptical. Not at him, but she didn't buy that as the reality.
"We're all giving our seeds to a swarm of ghostie-goos? Sure. That makes sense, if the ghosts are involved in the wards. But unless that's a new ritual... that was the ritual intended to happen, regardless of if Philicia fucked with stuff or not. People would not have been acting like all was good if the ritual was different. Her new law was the change. Philicia was making a show of purging the ancient rituals at Ostara with her announcement, and that was a big alternative energy call that was going to rock the boat. Like backing Tesla over big oil big."
She frowned as she held her coffee to her lips and sniffed it.
"How deep down this rabbit hole do you want to go, Luke? Because if looking into this is bad news in Winter, I can only imagine how bad it is in Fall. Rowan's going to get himself killed if he pokes around too much."
|
|
|
Post by Lucas Chevalier on May 20, 2021 7:48:09 GMT -8
There were times that Lucas often found himself wishing his thoughts were more in line with most of the Lost he came across. Their focus was on the survival of those they cared and about and themselves. The great picture didn't matter as long as they could keep their people safe and close. No one was holding him accountable to going any further down this rabbit hole other than himself.
He sighed heavily, strumming his finger against the lid of his drink.
He had walked away from two difficult situations in his life before without giving it any further thought. He couldn't bring himself to do it a third time, not when someone else could get hurt because he wasn't brave enough to press forward. Could he forgive himself if Rowan went too deep and got injured or worse? The Fairest' mind drifted back to Ostara, recalling how timid Rowan had been during that time but he was still giving it his best. Rowan had also made it clear that he was worried about Golden Boy and he wasn't going to stop until he figured out what happened to him. Lucas could share that much with Rowan. However, he suspected that would only drive Rowan's ambition rather than bring him any sense of closure.
Damn it.
"Call me Alice because I have to go all the way down this rabbit hole until I find the Ghost Wonderland. Roger told me that the normal ghosts were "around" but he didn't elaborate beyond that. I'm not high enough standing in Winter that I can push for more information without raising red flags or end up like Golden Boy." He added with a frown.
"What I need to do is pledge to a Knight who is on Team Forging Good Relations with the Other Courts. In theory, we should all be on that team. In practice, we've seen that's clearly the case. I don't think we can push forward with our current arrangement because this is bigger than the both of us. My thought is we either consider the pledge satisfied or we find a pledge smith to rework it. What we need is a trustworthy, capable Fall courtier to work with us so we can tap into the bigger occult picture. As well as a trustworthy, socially savvy Spring Courtier who we can keep an ear out in Spring and report back to us. That way, we have all of our bases covered."
|
|
|
Post by Kai Rose on May 20, 2021 11:42:23 GMT -8
Kai raised an eyebrow.
"Luke, you know I work for Solomon, right?"
That explained everything about why his proposal that they grab a Grip of Dudes and go chase down The Secrets was not a great idea, as far as she was concerned.
"I've an interest in knowing what the reality of the situation is, but you know full well that the second I begin digging around that people are going to start to get very nervous. I'm not going to do that. It will only make looking into things harder.
As for our Pledge, that's up to the Wyrd. I left holes on purpose so that you wouldn't have to dive into danger, and I'm feeding you context still to try to keep you safe. Your deal with me does not obligate you to dive into this; it only obligates you to faithfully report what you learn about the ghost issues. You're free to stop. You can stop. A big piece of me thinks you ought to. You're clearly poking at something very dangerous that doesn't need to be poked at. I'm not sure what about the Pledge somehow makes it untenable."
|
|
|
Post by Lucas Chevalier on May 20, 2021 12:18:06 GMT -8
Lucas listened to what Kai said and she made a lot of sense. The Wyrd still had the oath in place so there was more work for them to do.
He slowly nodded his head in concession.
"You're right, Kai. It's up to the Wyrd. I'm just...frustrated. "
With his freehand, he gestured in front of him.
"I can see the big picture starting to form. Whoever is behind all of this is a powerful Gravewight. It's not someone who is on the books because they would need to be deep in the Wyrd to pull off what they are doing. Which leads me to believe it's likely someone in Fall or Winter. Probably Winter because well...most of our stuff is unknown.
I can tell that Roger is telling me what I want to hear so that I'll leave the whole thing alone. They've likely rounded up all the ghosts in part so someone like me can't stroll up to the ghosts and ask them what's going on.
I agree that it's dangerous but this isn't good, Kai. My honest fear is that they are rounding up ghosts, shoving then into the Underworld through that gate, and then pulling them back out. When ghosts spend time in the underworld they become more powerful. They could have a friggen ghost farm going on and they are using the ghosts like cattle. Plumping them up and then booting them into the rites.
I've been trying to dive into the mindset of what I would do if I was higher up in the Wyrd, and that's what I would do if I needed more power. "
|
|
|
Post by Kai Rose on May 20, 2021 12:38:04 GMT -8
"So, talk to me like I'm a stupid sniper for a sec."
She popped the last of the first donut into her mouth, chewing and talking through it.
"I can see the moral yikes, but magic's weird and spooky. If what you suspect about ghost farming is true... why is that a problem, from a nerd standpoint?"
|
|
|
Post by Lucas Chevalier on May 20, 2021 13:30:29 GMT -8
Sometimes Lucas felt like he was standing in the middle of a fire, screaming at everyone there was a fire, but no body was moving because they couldn't see the fire. Such was the life of a Gravewight.
He took another long sip of his drink and suddenly found himself wishing he had ordered donuts as well. His body could use the delicious, carb fueled serotonin boost.
"Okay, so think of the universe as being like a radio. There are different stations on different frequencies. You and I are currently in 97.9 WTFVEGAS. We can only hear the music that's been played on this station. The next station is Twilight. Turn the dial over and you get into the frequency that Hedge ghosts hangout in. The last frequency is the underworld where all the ghosts hangout.
There's a lot that I don't know about the Underworld and most living beings don't either. It is an endless abyss of death that has various powerful ghostly entities who run the place. Hence why the Gentry created Gravewights.
A Gravewight who is deeply connected with the Wyrd is going to remember all the places they traveled in the underworld, who they met, what they wanted, and all that.
With this theoretical ghost cattle farm, one of two things is happening.
Either one, we are trouncing around in someone's territory, taking their property, and doing whatever we want with it. When we get caught, whoever is in charge is going to be pissed.
The more likely outcome is this powerful Gravewight remembers past dealings and is working with those ghosts or whoever to set up the cattle farm. The thought of these mysterious, powerful, ghostly creatures gaining resources from us makes me uncomfortable for one. I admit, this bad feeling could also be my subconscious freaking out because something about this faintly reminds me of my Durance."
He leaned back into his chair while he worked through his thoughts. "On top of all of that, ghosts do not want to go to the Underworld. During the reverent crisis, I watched ghosts get sucked into the Underworld. One of them even cried out that they had did as they were told so they didn't understand why they are being punished. Which also leads me to believe the the ghost had been in the Underworld before, yanked out and shoved into animals, and then punted back into the Underworld.
They are going to fight tooth and nail to get away.
And if nothing else, I don't want a Reverent Crisis 2.0 with even more powerful ghosts."
|
|
|
Post by Kai Rose on May 20, 2021 13:54:05 GMT -8
The breakdown of the different radio channels was helpful. Sure. There were people places, and a couple of different types of ghost places. That made sense. Gravewights were the special nerds who saw all the colors of the ghostly rainbow. If there was a ghost cattle farm... either they were cattle thieves, or a big Gravewight was cutting a deal with ghosts.
"Okay. Thanks. The latter seems more likely, because we're making offerings to the dead at Ostara. Offerings tend to come in an exchange."
She offered him the donut box to hold as she pulled out of the parking lot and hit the road.
"Three questions come to mind. What are they really getting from us? What's the problem with them getting stuff from us? And what are we getting back? I don't know if we can answer all of those off the cuff, but that's kind of where my head goes when I think about it."
|
|
|
Post by Lucas Chevalier on May 23, 2021 0:33:15 GMT -8
"Thanks, you're a life saver."
Lucas accepted the offered donut and practically inhaled it. The rush of sugar, carbs, and serotonin was already helping him feel better. Especially when he topped it off with even more sugary goodness after taking a sip of his drink.
"I've got some theories on that. As we are hashing this out, some other ideas are coming into my mind. Gates to the Underworld are exceptionally difficult to open up. Think about the radio stations and how 99% of the time, the only station you here is the correct station. Some radio stations share similar frequency points. Think about when you've been on a road trip and you're driving further and further away from your home. Your usual radio stations start to get fuzzy and they can bleed into a different radio station when you end up in a new region. The underworld and the world we live in similarly need a unique set of conditions to overlap with each other.
The first "condition" a underworld gate needs in order to naturally open up is it needs an area where there's been a lot of death. Now, I very much doubt Buck allowed a massive murder spree to happen in his back yard, which is why we can narrow down a Gravewight was involved in that gate. We also know there's a lot of political tension at the moment among the different courts and within the courts. Queen Philicia coming to power was marred with a lot of controversy within her own court."
He took out his notebook and scribble down his theories. He read them out loud to Kai as he wrote them down.
1) Buck is partnered with this mysterious, powerful Gravewight, who is likely in Fall or Winter. Most likely Winter. 2) Queen Philicia is attempting to open an Underworld gate in the area that the Ostara rite took place. There were enough dead bodies there that the land could meet the condition of Death. After the condition of death is made, another gate opens up: Avernian gate. The Avernian gate then requires a "key" to open it up and turn it into an underworld gate. -Did queen Philicia switch to a new power fuel because a) she had met the Death condition b) this allowed her to flex to her political allies that she also has access to an Underworld Gate and she can make it more powerful because she can openly make Lost contribute glamor to it
Lucas tapped his pen against his note pad.
"In a nutshell, what the ghosts maybe getting out of this is they are having more Underworld Gates opened up for them that they would not be able to make on their own. This allows the more powerful Ghosts to be able to leave the Underworld and come to the land of the living. By living the Underworld, they can come to the surface and accept the gifts of glamour that we are giving to them to make them more powerful.
The reason I am worried about there before more nefarious reasons behind this is because of what happened with the Reverent Crisis. The ghosts knew that they were going back to the Underworld. This is not something ghosts intrinsically know. Most ghosts are weak, empty, mindless echoes of who they used to be. The fact that the ghost was afraid is very telling. I was too tired at the time to make sense of the significance of that interaction. We also know that the Leviathan Motley was messing around with something called the Old Laws to create new rituals."
He returned to his note pad, creating a diagram which he once again read out loud.
"For Us: Underworld Gate=Access to Powerful cattle ghost form=powerful ritual fodder (Rites, Wards, Reverents)=probably secrets being exchanged between Lost and Powerful Underworld Lords For the UW Leaders: Underworld Gate=More Places they can Surface=They can go up to the surface and get lots and lots of glamour to feed on+ Queen Philicia is now offering them their own powerful Lost Cattle Farm to feed on=they may have their own powerful ritual fodder & access to secrets."
Lucas drew a doodle of a ghost cow and a Lost cow.
"Here's why this has the potential to be bad 1) With political tensions being what they are, someone pulls a Leviathan 2.0, and abuses the situation. 2) The Gentry catch wind of what's happening. They send a GW they control to the Underworld to figure out which ghosts we are doing business with. The GW is able to persuade the Ghosts into learning more about our rite secrets.
Hence my wanting to vet a Spring Courtier and a Fall Courtier. We can have the Fall Courtier find out what the Old Laws are and see if they can uncover the research the Leviathan Motley were working on. Then, we can have the Spring Courtier look into the Spring Political situation and get a sense of the current political factions within the Court. Any recommendations for either party that I could try feeling out and seeing if we can get them on board to discretely look into these matters?"
|
|
|
Post by Kai Rose on May 26, 2021 14:38:06 GMT -8
"I think your base assumptions need further investigation. Buck is being haunted by a powerful Gravewight, and someone dumped a gate in his backyard. I don't buy that as friendly. We had to get Noir to undo the haunting, at no small cost to Ivory... and there's no way the Autumn powers that be are stoked about Philicia fucking with their stuff. It doesn't make sense. She's not known for being much of a wizard."
She paused to sip her coffee.
"What I can do is help you work out the political math. So, what have you learned so far on that side?"
|
|
|
Post by Lucas Chevalier on May 27, 2021 1:25:54 GMT -8
"Underworld gates aren't that hard to close even for less potent Gravewights. I could close it right now if I wanted to. I would be surprised if Noir wasn't able to. Granted, like you warned me about earlier, maybe Buck doesn't want to escalate the situation but on some level he has to be allowing it to continue. Queen Philicia might not be that much of a Wizard but whose to say that there isn't someone sworn to her that is?"
He thought back on all the information he had picked up on recently.
"There have been rumbles about Queen Philicia convincing Alexandrite to pick up the sword again. Concerns have been raised about that because he has multiple dead monarchs under his belt. She has also been meeting with Mitch Carr recently. It's possible that she is trying to get her to swear a knight's pledge, but that would be an unpopular move. Maybe it's not connected but it feels to me like she is gearing up for something, especially after the declaration at Ostara. I've also heard rumor that she has a lover. I don't suppose you have any insight into any of the above that I could use to broker with The Magpie? The Magpie is a Spring Courtier who has employed Golden Boy as a errand boy in the past. Even if none of it is connected to what's going on with the Underworld, finding out about Queen Philicia's motives when so many Spring are feeling nervous or why the Queen of desire is hiding her lover, is valuable information to any member of the Verdant court. If the Magpie has any insight on why GB was messing around with the gates or who might know, I should be able to make that exchange with him."
|
|
|
Post by Kai Rose on May 27, 2021 7:37:49 GMT -8
"I mean. The gate probably is closed, isn't it? Because ghosts aren't freely pouring into the world? Are they like Hedge gates, where they can be opened and closed at will, but you can still see the outline?"
Kai had no clue how they actually worked.
The revelation of Lucas's method of investigating this situation rippled beneath Kai's skin, hard colors of red, dark green and navy blue flickering. She looked confused.
"I gave you Fawkes and Golden Boy, and you're diving into the Spring Queen's gossip? I'm fairly sure none of that is related to the reasons the two are playing with a powerful Gravewright's Gate. Have you considered just... becoming friends with Golden and offering help when the time is right? You're legitimately worried about the issue. You've got the knowledge to be an asset to them. Neither of them are Gravewights. They're part of your Court.
If you go seeking information about them from the Magpie, that itself will be a popular tidbit to trade. And then it's some dumbass going, Why is Winter investigating itself? Hmm. Maybe I should dig into the Sun Banisher's shit in a silly way. Oh, wait, no, please, Fawkes, don't shoot me in the face, ahhhhhhh pew pew pew -- I can hear it already."
She shook her head.
"I get caution. I just think Spring's nonsense is its own super dangerous ecosystem. But here's one thought: what has Rowan learned about any of it? He seems like the type to sniff around where he doesn't belong."
|
|
|
Post by Lucas Chevalier on May 27, 2021 10:54:47 GMT -8
"Think back to the ghost cattle farm analogy. Most ghosts are trapped there and more powerful ghosts oversee them. Whatever these more powerful ghosts are, they are keeping them in place.
A powerful enough Gravewight could open and close them at will. Otherwise, the gates themselves stay there in a manifested form like the Hedge and someone can only enter them using a "key" of some kind. "
Lucas replied in a patient tone. He thought back to Riley's initial reaction to him investigating gossip then their reaction when he shared what he learned, as well as how they were bound to silence in a painful way.
"I am aware that they are in my court just like they are aware I'm in their court. If they were interested in my help, they know how to reach me. Maybe they would be open to befriending me but if Golden Boy has been punished then there's a good chance he either can't ask me or he's going to be highly guarded about other Silent Arrows poking at him. The more knowledge I go in with what happened the better my chances are of getting them to open up is because I can make a stronger case of how I can be of help to them.
I understand your concerns about the pew. The Magpie is on my radar because I did a political analysis of who would be my best option to get information from and he is who I landed on. Kai, he's a pro when it comes to brokering information. Based on my own knowledge of freehold politics and his approach to business the worst that would happen is he's already aware of these situations. He's not going to get himself pewed or carelessly give tidbits away that will get others pewed. That's bad for business. He's incredibly resourceful and earning goodwill with him has the potential of unlocking a lot of useful political information. "
Lucas finished off his drink.
"I mentioned when we first started that the two of us had formed a seal together and all his cagey ness. I've spoken with Rowan since then and he's still trying to figure out the rites. He's not made any additional progress that I'm aware of since Ostara.
So, right now, the best bet is looking like doing information trading with the Magpie. If you have information you can share with me, that would be great. But I realize that you're not under any obligation to actually share anything with me."
|
|