Ω video

[sophos]

[Annabeth's face pops up, curls a mess as usual, but considering the turtle developments, she doesn't look nearly as cross as usual?? There's the sounds of water splashing around somewhere in the suite, but she doesn't appear to care.]

It goes without saying that the turtle's health started improving at last. [Because powers! And it's swimming again!] I know various numbers of us were tasked by Evandau into investigations, and I don't know how all the other situations turned out, but Doctor Soranik Natu, Rogue, Percy Jackson, and myself found something probably worth sharing.

We were assigned with investigating a string of robberies initially, but really, the important part is we discovered a series of incomplete archways in several different homes and attempted to recreate one in its entirety.

The whole "world between Life, Death, and Dreaming" thing everyone gets on arrival? Start taking it literally, if you weren't before. Keeliai as we live in it here is the Life plane. The archway opened up a portal of a kind, and said portal took us to the Death plane.

[A blob of water floats across the screen, blurring Annabeth's face, but it's still possible to see her turn around in a huff, and from somewhere off screen there's an "Oops, sorry!" before the water flies off. She continues unperturbed.]

It was basically a version of Keeliai gone awry and ruined, everything rotting away, and we found markings in the form of some kind of blood magic, directly over where the Emperor's Palace is in this plane. Scans proved it to be kedan blood in origin, some of it fresh, and the pattern was being drawn by - you know, what we're here to fight, in a magical attempt to kill Tu Vishan. We were able to wipe the incomplete blood slate clean and stop this part of his illness before leaving the plane. [By 'we' she mostly means Ocean Jesus did A Water Thing.]

Unfortunately, or fortunately, the way in seems to be gone. The archways all disappeared once we got back, as did that particular methodology in creating them. [Melted pins ahh. A pause.] The Death plane is probably where our infamous threat is hiding. Its domain, so to speak.

Tu Vishan's health is picking up, but this - this situation here, with this thing we're up against? It's definitely not over.

Comments

video;

[fatedchaos]

[Well, that's not completely disturbing at all. Vanessa looks a little pale at the mention of 'kedan blood'.] The investigation I was doing led us to... To sacrifices. Drained bodies, I mean. Maybe that's where the blood came from.

video;

[traitorously]

[Catty is going to be here for only two seconds, popping in over Vanessa's shoulder] It was gross! [That's it that's all she has to contribute. She's going to wander off now]

video.

[langsyne]

[Wow. This entire little speech is...wow. Wow enough that Scott, for once, forgoes the small talk and heads straight to the main question.]

So what do we do about all of it? Kind of hard to fight something we can't see or get access to.

video.

[sophos]

As far as I know, saying the name still draws its attention. I'm kind of hoping other investigations might have found out more about it, since there's still an uncomfortable amount of unknowns. How to completely stop it being the biggest.

According to the turtle himself, it's a creature made of 'chaos, pain, and deceit.'

video;

[eye_of_isis]

Wait. What?

video;

[sophos]

Which part? I don't really want to repeat it all.

[fearlessherosheart]

Then you located a necromantic gate? Have you notes on their locations?

[sophos]

I don't know that I'd call it a necromantic gate, exactly, but then again I don't really know what to call it at all. What kind of notes? I remember the houses they were in, if that's what you mean.

Video

[bindsthedead]

That doesn't sound like the realm of Death I'm familiar with. Although I suppose that explains a few things.

Can I see the pattern? I have some experience with magic that deals with death.

Video

[sophos]

It's no Underworld, either. [Or Tartarus - but nopenopenope, pushing that away.] What kind of things?

Dr. Soranik Natu has a scan of it, if you'd like to ask her. Otherwise I'm going to sketch out my own copy sometime.

video;

[sciencewhizard]

[ A whole lot of information to process there, but one thing gets him really thinking. ]

So if this place is "Life" and there's "Death" somewhere - does that mean there might be some kind of "Dreaming plane" as well?

video;

[sophos]

Yes. [She says that with a little too much finality...! Firm belief that yes, there is a Dreaming plane.] Tu Vishan visited a large portion of the foreigner population in our dreams - it's possible the Dreaming plane is related to that, but I suspect it's a completely different plane all the same.

video;

[definingfuture]

[His response is actually pretty late. But he has to ask.]

So you saw it?

video;

[sophos]

The creature? No. [pause.] But we felt it.

[Voice]

[the_other_eight]

[On her side of things Pepper is pursing her lips. What Annabeth is talking about is important and it really shouldn't matter that Tony's gone. This needs attention immediately.]

Miss Chase, my name is Pepper Potts. I'd like to set up a meeting to discuss something with you. Off the network.

[Yes, she wants to talk to you about Victor's book.]

[Voice]

[sophos]

[There's a few moments of quiet thinking.]

Is the hydroponics garden too public a place? [They've both sort of seen each other floating around there already.]

[browbeater]

[Not what he was expecting to hear when he idly checked the network next]

What infamous threat?

[sophos]

[A moment's pause -!] The reason the Emperor decided to summon us here. You're new, huh? They should really just tell the kedan to start explaining that on the cart ride in.

[She's been here so long at this point SOMETIMES SHE FORGETS OTHERS HAVEN'T...] Were you here when the turtle was deathly ill?

video; the most pathetic of encryptions

[saisamour]

[ actually he's going to fidget a bit and look super uncomfortable before he meets her eye

because meeting malicant was kind of traumatic ok

but he will persevere..! ]

Will you pursue it?

video; 100% encryption

[sophos]

[Casually ups that for you!!]

[The way he's fidgeting and looking at her is noted immediately, and she starts speculating.]

The creature itself? I don't know. Not when we're still this unprepared. [Pause.] Did you see it?

video; encrypted 60%

[escarabajo]

We found blood sacrifices, too. There were... [He hesitates a little; the memory of what he and his team had encountered is still pretty unpleasant.] These bodies, drained of blood, that were thrown to rot in this lake. There was this weird pollen they used to turn the water into something that'd dissolve the bodies.

This is the first I've heard of the planes, though. [It sounds a whole lot like a video game, but at this point, he seriously doubts Annabeth would be lying about something like that.]

video; encrypted 60%

[sophos]

[Though she's there and listening, there's a good, long few moments as she takes in what he explains.] Where was the lake? [No Annabeth don't think about going there.] There was... a substantial amount of blood. I wouldn't be surprised if this operation was widespread.

[Finding the way into the Death plane hadn't been as much of a surprise for her and Percy as it had been Rogue and Soranik, and it wasn't the first she'd heard of it. But she nods, like it was the same thing anyway.] Evandau sort of explained it afterwards. He said, and I quote: "Life, dreaming, and death; that's three total and you're alive in this realm. Think about what that means and stop wasting my time."

[iguanasolution]

Are you guys busy? Can I come? [Because wow, wow. Intense and Frank, being the private kind of guy he is, thinks it's better to talk about it in person and not using the network.]

[sophos]

Percy's busy abusing the return of his powers [She says this with mock irritation, and a thin whip of water waves in front of her face as if right on cue] but otherwise, no. It's fine, you can head over whenever.

video -- 60% encryption

[angermanaging]

[Bruce listens to this with all due seriousness, attention unwavering.] So when everyone dreamed about Asti, they were on the Dreaming plane, [he decides.] What do you think we should be focusing on-- finding a way back there to face it directly? Doesn't that seem a little... suicidal?

If you have a suggestion on what I should look into, I'm open to it. I could stand to take on a new project. [This obviously isn't an idle suggestion. Giving Bruce Banner a direction for research tends to result in insane leaps and bounds being made on the subject, and it's not an offer he makes to just anyone, besides. It's a demonstration of his trust in Annabeth's judgement that he's asking her directly what she would recommend, instead of asking her more questions to tease out information and make that determination himself.]

video -- 60% encryption

[sophos]

They might have been? It's hard to tell for sure. I think each of the planes is something you can get to physically. [And also just thinking of the way Eva spoke about it, but maybe she's just thinking too much. At least that's what the Percy side of her brain suggests.] But no. Jumping in to attack this thing when we still don't know a lot about it is a bad idea. We could look for a way back, but only to keep the option open if the turtle starts to get sick again, like the process has started all over.

[She blinks for a moment. He's asking her what she thinks and opening himself up to trust her on that. She gets that from demigods, but not much else.] I'm still trying to figure that out, honestly. If we could discover more about the Planes themselves, it could help us learn about more the - M-word. Especially if he can move between them, or at least between Life and Death.

voice; 40% encryption

[urbanmagic]

[She may be idly going through the open comments of this post, notices that the team she was with had even started the string of it, before she finally comments. It takes her a bit to get an encryption going, though. Not quite a secret, but she'd rather not let people who don't have any business knowing they know this include her in their list of potential threats just yet.]

Blood sacrifices make sense considering how big their target is. Pretty sure that aside from the ones mentioned, plenty of the teams also encountered it during their missions. There was also drugs involved in keeping the kedan down, most likely to avoid resistance from killing the turtle too. I don't know how to open a completely new plane, that's beyond even my own skills, but if you need someone to at least recognize an energy signature of that gate you passed, I can probably pinpoint other locations that would also share the same one on our dear friend here.

[Dimension-hopping? Not her forte. Locating things on a city, even a living one? Much easier with powers slowly returning.]

voice; 40% encryption

[sophos]

I haven't spoken to too many of the other teams just yet, though I have friends involved. We hadn't gotten the chance to coordinate. Did you find some of that yourself? [She means the blood sacrifices.] Some of the gangs earlier, back when we first started arriving - there was a plot to bring down the turtle. I've started considering the possibility that it's related.

You can do that sort of thing? Would you be able to recognize the signature, even if you hadn't before?

[Video]

[superoverachiever]

So that's something to take to the Emperor, right? To ask whether the same power that brought us here could send us... there? [Just a hint of hesitation wondering if 'there' is the right word, dimension hopping is a little beyond her expertise.] Not that I'm volunteering to go! But. It'd be good to know if there's any way to go again just in case.

[Video]

[sophos]

I don't think it's the same thing. The Emperor summoned our souls here, but moving to the other Plane - I'm pretty sure our bodies made the journey. Besides, she might not want to answer. [Her voice sounds skeptical of getting said answers from either Eshai or Evandau at this point :T.] But I do agree potentially looking for another way back. Just in case.

video;

[demon_brat]

So, should another such archway be found, or somebody otherwise ends up in the 'plane' of Death,

[And this is where Damian decided to clear the encryption he had started, so the entire message is out in the open. Because this may be important!]

what should people look out for? How would they return?

video;

[sophos]

We came back out through the same archway. It only disappeared after we'd come back out, so assuming it's the same process, it'd be the same exit.

I'd look out for the Thing itself. We didn't see it, but it knew we were there.

[Video]

[tactile_telekinesis]

Wait, wait, wait hold up, there's different planes and there's been more sacrifices? Oh that's just perfect!

This is so messed up, all we found was some purple goo that's been used to heal the turtle. Or try to.

So if the way into that plane is gone, that means that Dark and Scary can't get here, right?

[Video]

[sophos]

What do you mean more? Did you find something recently? What purple goo?

[But she shakes her head.] It was only one way. There are probably others. And if this thing is as powerful as everything seems to be implying, traveling between planes doesn't seem like an issue for it.

video; encrypted 60%

[everylittlegirl]

The people I worked with? We found this kid locked in a closet who said he was part of a rare pure bloodline and they were using him for blood magic. The police shut down the place, but.. it was pretty weird. There were some dice.. and there was a bunch of wax all over.

[Every once in awhile, Hayley can set aside differences for the greater good.]

video; encrypted 60%

[sophos]

[Okay. Yeah. Annabeth can do the same thing, and it's a curious situation.]

Rare pure bloodlines? Did he expand on that?

video;

[franchisepirate]

[He's still not accustomed to these communication devices, but Westley tries to listen to what he can, gleaning small bits of information. This, however, he's not about to listen to that and remain silent.]

[He's not going to share the results of his own investigation team, of course, but even so.]

Not exactly comforting news. I take it that particular methodology isn't able to be easily replicated.

video;

[sophos]

Only if the items used in the process could be easily refound, but considering key parts melted and they were rare enough, I'm not so sure.

action

[sophos]

[Annabeth clicks off the console and slumps over in her chair for a moment, rubbing her eyes and listening to the continued sounds of Percy playing around with water. All she intended was to share the existence of the Death plane, and she ended up getting so much more to work with. Though she's not entirely sure why she wasn't entirely expecting something like that, given the nature of the investigations. She'll think on it all later.]

[She climbs to her feet and dodges around the water flying through the suite, flopping over on the couch and curling her legs up underneath her. Her voice carries easily to wherever Percy is at the moment.]

All of that rambling and plans and talk of looking into other ways into the Planes, and we're practically sitting on one. [Frustrated thinking voice!!] I don't think I lied to anyone, not technically. [Not that she has issues with lying sometimes, but here, where they're all supposed to be in the same boat, that's different.]

[kelpful]

[It might seem ridiculous to an outside observer, but Percy's not just messing about. He's testing his control, which just doesn't seem to be quite as good as it used to be. He's having trouble solidifying it, too.

And also he kind of wants to see how long Annabeth will put up with it. No one every accused Percy Jackson of having an overabundance of caution.

All water shenanigans stop when he wanders out of their bedroom and sees her curled up on the couch like that, though. Various blobs of water float in from all over the suite and congeal together, rolling back into fountain. He drops gracelessly onto the couch next to her, tapping on a knee to indicate she should stretch her legs out across his lap.]

It's a hard line to walk right now. I think you did a good job of letting everyone know, though.