12668/15 Fears: Calm Before a Storm

15 Fears: Calm Before a Storm
Date of Scene:	02 September 2022
Location:	The Velvet Room - Library
Synopsis:	Mike reveals the conversation he had with (presumably) Nyarlathotep in the Astral and gives warning that the Ivory Tower is not as damaged as previously thought. The JLD will have their work cut out for them.
Cast of Characters:	Chas Chandler, Rien D'Arqueness, Michael Hannigan, Gabby Kinney

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Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas and Rien were in the Library looking over the notes on the I Do Not Know You that the JLD had compiled before setting out to absolutely destroy/wreck/contain/imprision/etc it. The ever present whiteboard with the notes on the Fears that have been gathered is present but nt much else has been managed besides a few more notes on The Crawling Rot entry.

    He looks over at Rien and arches a bushy brow. "You're sure about this?" he asks, for possibly the fifth time. "Taking on the power of one of these things and removing it from Narly" the moicker was easier than saying the name here, he's learned his lesson on that "--even for someone as prepared as you--is not an easy undertaking. It's not that I don't think your capable, I just want to make sure you truly know what you're doing. As you well know, this isn't some powerful demon--it's a literal god in its own right."

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien is looking over the notes, scanning them again and again for anything new or important that she might have missed. There's a tension to the blonde that isn't usually present, a leashed energy that has her all but prowling like a caged animal. She lets out a breath and runs a hand through her hair, then rubs at the back of her neck.

Glancing up at Chas, she can't help but smile faintly at his concern, even as she gives a nod. "I know. But... I have to." She looks back to the first page of the notes, touching the stack lightly, "This isn't just... wanting to take it down because it came after me. Something is.. pushing me. I /have/ to do this. It's like having a voice in my head, whispering at the back of my mind." She lets out a breath and murmurs, "There's something.. I don't know. Something is calling to me, telling me to do it. It feels... right."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
As the duo discuss things involving the Old Gods, another figure soon joins them. That figure is one Michael Hannigan who presently looks over to the pair and gives a nod of greeting. Some sort of formality out of the way, he moves towards the shelves.

If one were to look at Mike it would become apparent that he was not in the best of moods.

Was he scowling? Well no. But, with the less than straight posture and the tired look in his eyes, it is apparent that  wasn't the best in regards to sleeping.

Running a hand along the spines, Mike ends up securing a spiral bound sketchbook and turns to look to the pair. "So...it turns out a friend's home world does not have keyholes. Fortunately there were a few long distance teleporters there so..."

He starts flipping through the sketchbook. "And I may have spoken with Nyarlathotep ."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas nods at Rien and is about to respond as Mike enters and his brow furrows faintly. The rooms of the Library vibrate with a sense of intense displeasure at the name mentioned by the man. Chas opens his mouth, closes it, opens it again, closes it again. "I... there are about four questions there that I really want to ask, but I'll jump to the last one" he says, his countenance darkening.

    "One, don't say that name. Use a nickname, Narly, or one of the other titles... saying that, if you do it right, tends to get you evicted--forcefully--from the grounds. Two, you fucking -what-?" The outburst of tone and language is enough to let Mike know that he's dropped a bit of a bombshell on the pair of them with the nnchalant revelation.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"Sorry... You're diong WHAT now?" Gabby pokes her head in from the other room as she had just arrived in time that her keen hearing had picked up the conversation between Chas and Rien. Looking overly concerned she steps inside glancing among those here with a stern frown already fixed on her face. Her gaze ends up resolutely on Rien stil frowning.

"I feel like I'm out of the loop here. Granted, I have kept some of you out of the loop on locating the..." She fumbles thinking of something to call the double. "Pretender." Yeah that works. "But still. What IS the game plan for this, exactly?"

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien has her mouth open to say something to Mike only for Chas to beat her to the punch. She reaches out, giving his arm a squeeze, then looks to Mike, "You should probably start from the beginning there. Most people that talk directly to an Old One don't tend to come away with their minds still intact. I'm guessing this was through a dream?" She keeps her own tone even and calm, apparently deciding to play the part of Chas tomorrow.

Then there's Gabby, and Rien winces slightly, "Ears, Gabby. Please. Chas, you too. Some of us have highly tuned ears..." Then she's letting out a breath and looking to Gabby, "I'm going to take on the I Do Not Know You. I expect my poor man's doppelganger will show up, so if you want your shot at it, tomorrow will be that chance."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike pauses, looking up to the ceiling of the library, "Sorry." It's entirely possible that wasn't directed at Chas, "If it's any consolation according to him it's an approximation." He pauses in flipping the pages as he thinks to the encounter. "Ok uh. Nyarcat. Because he did something that reminded me of an internet meme. Or Nyar. It's much simpler than those long ass titles..."

After giving Gabby a nod of greeting, he starts flipping through the pages again, giving a nod in confirmation to Rien's question, "Yeah it started off as a dream. But then there was a sound that was interrupting it. So the dream got cancelled and I found myself in the Astral.

Finding his page, he moves over to the table nearest the trio and sets it down, showing a general sketch of the area around Rien's tower. He gestures to the area the void was located. "So...All those god types? Most of them were hanging out here in the darkness. Fortunately they color coded themselves which made getting a count easier. Eleven colors. Four gaps when they joined together."

He pauses, pointing to the tower, "I got a sense something was over there. Tower's rebuilt by the way. But I didn't get a good look because when the colors joined, Nyar started talking to me."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"I thought we were going to hunt it down, but now's as good a time as any. It was starving when I last saw it," Gabby points out as she gives an apologetic nod toward Rien in regards to talking too loud. She was still working on that herself, really. It was easy to forget when caught off guard.

Her gaze shifts to regard Mike while he flips out a notebook to start reading. The urge to remark on his love of paperwork is supressed due to the importance of the situation. Her arms cross over her chest, then uncross, uncertain of what to do with her arms.

After a moment she simply moves over to Rien's side to give her sister a quick, silent hug. There really wasn't anything else she needed to say after all: This needed to be done after all. "Course I'm coming along. Someone has to look out for you. Put a lojack tag on you or something."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas holds up a hand to Rien in apology. "Sorry." He then listens to Mike's tale with a slowly mortifying expression. "Fuck... me... sideways..." he says wen the man finishes. "Eleven of them... just... out beyond the tower? And their boss with them?"

    He wipes at his face. "Eleven..." he starts ticking off fingers. "Jon, Lydia, Megan..." he points to Rien. "And you. That makes fifteen. They tried for Cael, they tried for you" he points to Gabby. "And they attacked the castle, I guess that bitch wasn't the whole of The Crawling Rot. Love that."

    He looks back to Mike, "And you said the Tower is rebuilt? Bloody hell they don't work slow, do they?" He looks at Rien. "Still confident?" he asks. There is a meausre that he's hoping she is, they'll all need her support in this endeavor. A structure is only as strong as its foundation, after all.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien offers a small smile to Gabby and returns the hug to her sister before nodding to Chas, "Forgiven." She looks to Mike, lips pursing up as he tells them about the rebuilt tower, the eleven hanging out in the Void. She blows out a breath and gives a nod, "I'm not... entirely surprised. The Void is a No Man's Land... strongest survive, so I imagine that all of them together will kill or scare off anything else that might normally dwell there."

She lifts her chin and looks at Chas, "Yes. I knew the tower would recover quickly. And the elven being there doesn't change what I need to do." Rien offers him a faint smile, "Besides, no Howlett has /ever/ walked away from a fight. Especially not one that we started."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike nods as Chas asks for confirmation regarding the tower being rebuilt. "Well, I couldn't see the boss. I only could hear and feel him speaking and looking." He frowns, "He did give a warning. That none of us would survive when faced with the wrath of-"

Mike pauses, "I can't pronounce what he said next. Well, he said something but, it didn't really have sound. But I felt-" The musician frowns, trying to describe it, 'Well...something I probably haven't felt in a long time."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney pauses at that to lift a hand. "Uh, phrasing Rien. We want to walk away in one peice after all. At least I know *I* would like us to." A little wry grin is offered though she does have to nod in agreement growing a bit more serious once more. "This needs to be taken care of and it doesn't look as if there's a lot of people jumping up volunteering. One way or another this has to work."

A long pause comes before she suggests, "I know it's Astral and all but would some bombs help? I can make some real quick. Worked on our Pretender at least, she wasn't fond of flashbangs."

Looking over to Mike she considers his remarks only to suggest, "That feeling of the boogey man waiting for you under the bed if you happen to slip your foot out from under the covers?"

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas just stares at Mike. "You... he spoke his name at you and you're still..." He runs a hand through his hair. "Alright then. Rien's right, doesn't change what we have to do." He looks to Gabby with a slight grin. "We're going to come away from it however we do. Bruised, battered, but alive and victorious" he says. "They know we're coming and there's not much we can do about that. We focus on I Do Not Know You and once we have that taken care of... then we deal with whatever else is going on out there..."

    He doesn't add the thought that runs through his head: 'or we all die screaming.' No need to scare the troops before the big show down. "Go ahead and bring whatever goodies you want, if it's like the last time, in all likelihood we're going in physically. We'll need every advantage we can get. I don't know what surprises are waiting for us at the Tower especially if it's rebuilt, but it's not going to be easy." He gives Rien a smile. "But our leader has beaten them before... I'm pretty sure she's up to the task of doing it again."

    He looks to Mike. "Any more revelations of phenomenal proportions you're wanting to drop on us while you're here?" His expression is wry. "You have a habit of bringing the most interesting of news to the Library, you know?"

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien gives a nod and chuckles, "Not sure why you're nitpicking, Gabby, you regrow lost parts. We always walk away at the end." She looks back to Mike and gives a nod, "A sort of miasma of the soul... it's indescribable. But it's also unmistakable." Looking back to the notes, she purses up her lips, then shakes her head, "Okay. Did you get a look at which colors were out there? We might be able to take a good guess at which ones remain in the Void if we know what colors they're attaching to themselves."

She flashes a grin towards Chas and gives a nod, "Oh this is one fight I'm looking forward to. I'm taking that Tower and I will sit in it every day and dare them to try and get it back." Rien clears her throat and smiles, "I may be a little... aggravated."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Mike looks over to Gabby at her suggestion. Considering it. He shakes his head. "Most of my boogeymen growing up were actual people. What was under the bed didn't bother me."

Mike blinks at Chas as he stares at him. Blinking.

"Other revelations..." Mike repeats, eyes glancing up to the ceiling as he reflects back to the conversation. "Well...He referred to me as his younger brother's agent. Considers him a traitorous welp, asked if I even knew why I was there, He knew me, that the brother's touch remains on me, and that Phantasm is my 'station'. So the bit about Dream being a relative's spot on."

Rien's added questions causes for him to look back to the sketchbook where he wrote notes on the edges. "Uh...Two reds, One orange, Two yellows, two blues, one pink, one white, one black, and one brown. Different shades."