[video]

[hot_mes]

[the transmission cuts in and out since their party is quite some distance from the city in the mountains – and under one – but Law is sure going to give it the ol' college try here. Part and parcel of his campaign to share information publicly]

I'm recording this in the hopes that it can reach the city, but if not, I can replay it later when we return. We've reached a bunker [fzzt...garbled words] like the caves, for those who’ve been here long enough to remember. This one has a surprise in it.

[he pans over to where Caedra is eagerly poking at a star chart of some kind, a technological marvel with shining points of light. Now, pirate boy here has seen maps before but star maps are pretty unique, even for astral navigation. The room itself is pretty technologically advanced, event compared to Hadriel itself]

This is...something between technology and magic as far as I'm concerned. If you touch one of those stars, you feel things. Emotions but also physiological response. Even though [fzzt] in here I felt cold, it stimulated nerve sensation. We're testing out as many as we can before we get tired of it but I wanted to send back an image.

[It's at this moment that Caedra reaches forward toward one of the points on the map, but quickly she withdraws her finger with a hiss of pain and a glare at the offensive point of light.]

So far that's all we've found here. No natives, no bodies. I plan to col- [more garbling and pixelating] before we come back. Oh...and it's just the two of us now. Black Leg-ya disappeared an hour ago, right in front of us.

[he looks vaguely disgruntled about that. Lucky bastard gets to go home. Law out]

((ooc: replies may come from either Law or Caedra or both))

Comments

Video

[utulien_aure]

We can see you, Law. What have- ai!

[So you can pretty much assume that Fingon sees the star chart.]

If that is all you've found, I would call it more than enough. Is there any pattern to its reactions?

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[abyssalarcana]

[Oh gross it's one of those elves. Ugh. Well, maybe he'll be helpful if he likes stars and maps and things that normally hold little interest to her.]

Yes. The same stars give the same reactions each time. One is hot, but one is extremely cold and sharp and full of ruins and metal. Oh! And one feels like being lost in a forest. It's very peaceful.

I imagine you understand what these are, don't you? You're clever enough.

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[utulien_aure]

An interesting assumption to be made about one you've just met, but as things stand why not run with it?

[Come now, Caedra, where's your sense of fair play? Calling someone 'gross' before you've even talked to them for five minutes is Just Not On.]

One warm, you said.... That would be expected surely- but others green and cold and- wait.

['Cold and sharp and full of ruins and metal-" if anything, that sounded like this planet. And the forest...the other planet they could have traveled to was jungled, yes, but how different would that be, really?]

I have two questions: could you tell what type of forrest it was? And is there one which makes you feel as though you've been caught in a rainstorm?

[abyssalarcana]

What, that you're clever? Curufin always spoke highly of his associates. Are you not one of them?

[With no attempt made to hide her distaste, naturally. But it's also fairly unimportant at the moment. She just has no desire to pretend to be friendly. It's been a long walk here.]

No, I can't tell what the forest is. But it smells lush, and green and feels safe. Like a cocoon of vines and leaves. The rainstorm... maybe. There's one that feels less like rain and more like, hm. Determination. Resolve. There's an intensity to it.

[utulien_aure]

Curufinwe Atarinke is my younger cousin, yes. [Quirking an eyebrow] If you're so interested in his company, of course, I can keep contradicting him. It's the surest way to make sure he responds.

[Curvo always did love getting in the last word, somehow he'd manage to do it across realities.]

Perhaps, then. It sounds not so dissimilar from the feel of the water spirits at home.

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[hot_mes]

[Caedra aside...]

They give off sensations that remind me of locations. I'm no navigational expert but I've already concluded that these are worlds where the gods and their hosts have been.

As you can see, there are more than three.

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[utulien_aure]

[Well it's not the first time Fingon's run into someone still irritated at his cousins for something.]

A Elbereth.

[If you're going to blaspheme, might as well do it appropriately.]

Then most of them will be worlds the Null has control over as well.

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[hot_mes]

I'm not sure about that. It does look like Null technology, mapping the stars, but the feelings...the Null hate any instance of emotion, they wouldn't use an emotion-based notation system. So, any conclusion I make at the moment would be in error. It could be their map to find where all the worlds with gods and hosts are, or it could be something beneficial done as a joint effort between parties.

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[utulien_aure]

I doubt they would have as well. Though if our hosts have only dared to transport us to a few planets...

We can't be sure who made it until we ask one of them, more's the pity. Should I try, as you're still out?

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[itsnotaonesie]

[Peter's sort of hesitant to comment just because Caedra iiiiis kind of terrifying, but this is a pretty amazing find and he's a giant nerd, so. Here he is what up kids.]

Dude, is that a map? Is there anything labeled on that thing or can you only like, poke it?

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[hot_mes]

[what up Peter at least Law is here to talk science]

Seems like it, but no, nothing is labeled. I'd venture to guess it was used by the Null, they might not need such things. The touch-based interface is pretty weird, though.

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[itsnotaonesie]

[Heck yes my man hit me with some science]

Touch based interface isn't too weird, but touch based interface that makes you feel stuff is pretty out there. You said it elicits an emotional and physiological response, does each... I'm assuming those are planets or something? Does each one only give you one emotional and physiological response per planet?

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[hot_mes]

Exactly. Each one is different. It's as though whoever needed this information only communicates in emotional response... [HEY WAIT] ...like the cephalopod hosts. Which would make each sensation a label for the location.

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[itsnotaonesie]

That actually makes a lot of sense. Assuming the old hosts actually built that, it also kind of suggests that they were spread out over more than just this planet. How else would they know what each location feels like, y'know? Unless I'm interpreting this all weird.

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[theweakhavepurpose]

any of that able to come back with you to the city? or is it all stuck in place?

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[abyssalarcana]

how do you expect us to move something this large? It takes up most of the entire wall.

[theweakhavepurpose]

i didnt mean the whole damn thing obviously

[abyssalarcana]

chopping it up would do very little good unless you fancy a jigsaw puzzle of stars on a dark sky. or a very useless mural

Text

[hot_mes]

stuck.

it's one enormous room in the middle of the city. no way I could bring anything back without killing myself

[theweakhavepurpose]

that sucks.

think anyone might actually be able to navigate with that thing?

[hot_mes]

not sure. theoretically, if these are the other planets Fear can reach, the Door should be able to take us to them as well, but I don't know if a photo of the map would be enough to do so.

video;

[unfortunateimmortal]

Could that be the Cosmos? A gift of insight perhaps from Ebrietas, Daughter of the Stars?

[ Lady Maria has never seen a map like this one, it's size, the way the ones who found it describe the sensations it gave them. No, this was something new, clearly the workings of higher powers. ]

Do you recognize the constellations? I've not been here long enough to note those in the sky above me and nor do I recognize them as ones I have seen.

[ Lady Maria recalled the strange stars that formed above the Living Failers in the Research Hall back in Yharnam. Maybe this wasn't all that different? ]

video;

[hot_mes]

...what?

[it's not the garbled transmission, it's that none of those words make any sense in or out of context from his point of view.]

No, it's not like that. Constellations require a fixed point of view and that's not how this seems to work.

video;

[unfortunateimmortal]

[ He'd have to forgive her for that. The world she comes from is, well, it's seriously strange and controlled by space-dwelling Eldrich Gods. ]

And so, how does it seem to work? I understand it would be too big to bring back to the City with you. Would it be possible to take a fragment of it to be studied?

[ If in doubt, bring some back and let whatever scholars there is here, examine it. It seemed too big of a find to simply remain lost and left alone as it currently was. ]

video;

[hot_mes]

No. It's generated by some kind of computer. Short of teleporting the entire room back to the city, it can't be brought back.

And as interested as I am in experimentation, I'm not wasting twenty years of my lifespan on the power needed for that kind of teleportation. I'll take as much video and photo evidence as I can, along with my journal notating the sensations given off by each point.