Parking Lot -> Foyer (Leslie, Liz, Jean)

An unassuming red sedan pulled into the parking lot in front of the Hilbert Inn. It was the sort of car you wouldn't give a second thought if you saw it on the city streets.

The driver, a pale, red-haired woman in her early 30's, got out of the car first. "Well," Jean said, "we're here."

The front passenger door opened, and a tall woman with sleek black hair got out. "And where is 'here,' exactly?" Leslie asked.

"I'm...not sure how to explain it. Jack said he found it by accident years ago, and taught us how to find it again. He said it was the perfect place to go if any of us needed to lay low for a while."

"Speaking of..." Leslie walked to the rear of the car, where its third occupant, a teenage girl who looked like a shorter, younger, brown-haired version of Leslie, was asleep in the back seat. Leslie rapped on the window. "Hey. Lizzie. Wake up. We're here."

Liz slowly opened one eye. "I know you didn't just call me Lizzie. I believe I told you to stop calling me that when I was three."

"Grab your stuff," Leslie said. "We're here."

"I know, you just said that." Liz grabbed a bag from the seat beside her and climbed out of the car. She froze at the sight of the vista surrounding the inn. "Whoa. Holy shit!"

"Language," Leslie chided.

"Oh come on, you swear all the time!"

"Yes, but I'm an adult." Leslie chuckled. "I know what you mean, though. It's a far cry from the desert. Kind of reminds me of my class trip to Denver in high school."

"I didn't know you went to Denver," Liz said.

"You were two."

"Come on," Jean said as she unloaded the rest of their bags from the trunk. "Let's go inside and get checked in."

"Yes please," Liz said as she followed the two older women into the inn's foyer. "I wish you'd told me it was going to be this cold here."

Inside the inn, Jean checked in at the front desk, which dispensed three cards reading "Leslie Sakai," "Liz Sakai," and "Jean McKibben, MD."

"Really?" Leslie asked. "You actually had them put "MD" on your nametag?"

"I didn't tell them to do that," Jean said. "I never even told them I was a doctor, let alone what kind. I don't know how they knew."

"Huh. Well, anyway, what should we...do...first..." Leslie trailed off as she noticed Liz was staring openly at a dining area set up across the foyer. Specifically, she was staring at a table where three women were sitting. One was dressed in a suit of black plate armor. One was dressed like a stereotypical witch, complete with a broomstick and a cat. And one - here, Leslie had to blink several times to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her - was smaller than the cat.

Jean rolled her eyes. Oh boy. This is going to be a long conversation.

(Foyer)

"An attack?" Hazel's eyebrows quirked as she tried to imagine an attack on the Halls of Knowledge. It probably wouldn't last more than five minutes, one way or the other. "Must have been a living nightmare. But you got out of it, at least. And you can do what you can to make sure it never happens again, to you or anyone else."

At that moment, Felix caught the scent of some new visitors, and none-too-gently thwacked Hazel in the ankle to get her attention. The magician scowled down at her familiar, then perked up as newcomers came along. "Oh, hello there," she said as she waved her hand, making a few unused chairs slide over from other tables. "Come on, sit down."

Foyer: Dining Area

Hilda shook her head. "You don't know half of it. And I hope you never get to go through something like that." She took another bite out of her trout. "And I'll admit that it's true, I want to make sure it never happens to anyone again." She added with a half full mouth.

The knight swallowed her mouthful, and immediately went to grab another one. It was genuinely good. She passed it down with some of the wine the waiter had brought. As she was doing this, she noticed Felix acting up. Hilda turned around to see what he had noticed: A small group, all women, near the front desk. One of them was staring straight at her and Hazel.

Hilda couldn't help but feel a little self-conscious. After all, she was still in full armor. Not exactly a role model when it came to manners. But her companion seemed to not mind possible new company, which made the knight feel a bit more comfortable. "Friendly folk, aren't we?" She teased Hazel in a friendly tone, then turned to the newcomers. "Hail!" She greeted, lifting her wooden cup. "Sit down if you don't mind. Ask for some food and drink. We are all friends here" She pointed to her half-eaten meal. "Trust me on the food. It's really good."

Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)

Wolf puffed thoughtfully on his vape and took the occasional small sip of his RTD as Caroline explained the origins of keys and how they interacted with the portals with Koyel and Mort providing interesting background.

So, 'Big Blue' was one of the 'Dead God' Precursor A.I.s and portal keys were rare as fuck on Earth but common enough on Qorisa that the locals used them for mundane purposes - but obviously uncommon enough that they were expensive status symbols. The 'floating crystal tree thing' suggested that there were various different Precursor artefacts and it sounded like their use or intent had yet to be discovered - unless the tree thing actually was nothing more than a Precursor decoration.

The fact that the Precursors had picked the Middle East and South Asia as the most likely places for dominant civilisations was quite interesting.

Wolf honestly didn't know enough about Who's Who in Silicon Valley to know who the biggest motherfucker was, or even who was running Microsoft these days. He wasn't even one hundred percent certain whether "biggest motherfucker" referred to richness, tech savvy or the ability to harvest the most personal data from their clients. Whichever it was, this Gunvaldsen was clearly something. "Twenty-twenty-one, actually. August. Twenty-twenty's not a year I ever want to see again."

He turned his attention to Caroline, his sunglasses obscuring the fact that he was looking at her mouth rather than her eyes. "When did these Dead Gods seed the keys? I assume it has to have been before the Roman Empire's expansionist fervour. I would have thought Egypt, China, Ethiopia or the pre-European Americas would have been major contenders for emergent dominant civilisations."

[Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)]

"Oh, twenty-twenty," Caroline said, with wry agreement. "Still one of the worst years I've lived through." But at least it wasn't '32. Not that she was going to drop that on anyone. Mortimer was thinking similarly; even he was tactless enough. Besides, maybe it wouldn't be so bad in Wolf's timeline. No need to worry him.

"Right, Precursor seeding," Caroline said, changing the topic. "Before Sumeria. I couldn't tell you what they saw. Nor could they; they were using simulations they didn't understand, on damage, half-functioning hardware." She shrugged. "Still, it wasn't a terrible guess; the biggest density's still in what used to be the Persian Empire."

At this point, Mortimer and Koyel were visibly getting restless. Quietly, Koyel said, "that 'data analyst'. Wasn't clear on half them words; he some kinda Spider?" The words, 'spider', did not seem to have any of the negative connotations one might expect; he used it as though it was a well-understood technical term.

"Not really," Mortimer replied.

"Labor aristocracy," Thao absentmindedly said to Mortimer and Koyel, as if that clarified anything.

Mortimer side-eyed his boss and said, "pretty sure that translation magic doesn't do commie-to-Qorisayane, comrade Thao." The last two words were said with a faux-Russian accent; his tone was gently sarcastic, but not unkind, and Thao showed no sign of regarding it as anything but familiar friendly ribbing. Then, to Koyel, "nah, he'd be closer to your bureaucrats. Probably better paid, though, and working for Spiders instead of the government." He looked over at Wolf and added, "might be talking out my ass, of course. 'Spider' is just the Qorisayane word for business owners, entrepreneurs, shit like that. Makes more sense in their language."

Edited by KillerClowns on Nov 19th 2022 at 8:19:18 AM

Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)

Before Sumeria. Wolf's knowledge of Sumerian civilisation was pretty much limited to "it existed a long time ago" but he knew it was long enough ago that the earliest historical periods he had studied almost looked like "Current Affairs". If the Precursors had come before the Sumerians, that was long ago indeed.

He caught the conversation between Koyel and Mort about "data analyst" and "spider" and listened with interest to Caroline and Mort's answers.

He turned so that he was looking in the general direction of all three rather than any in particular. "Actually, I sorta do work for th'government - in that I work for the Ministry of Health at one of our state-funded hospitals... there's always a lotta data that needs t'be captured 'n' measured in a hospital."

After a pause for another sip of his drink and puff on his vape, he continued, "my primary focus is around what're deemed t'be Key Performance Indicators for clinical care - timeliness'v service, outcomes measurements, length'v inpatient episodes 'n' so on. I analyse any trends, make comparisons with previous time periods 'n' tryta map the changes in data to what's going on in th'hospital - that's the 'data analyst' part.

"I also do a lotta ad hoc reporting for various projects - someone might want t'know how many patients in a particular age group were admitted to a ward within this time period, broken down by ethnicity 'n' gender, and it's my job t'write a query that pulls the relevant information from our hospital databases 'n' give it to them so they can use it for planning." He gave a wry grin. "Dunno about 'bureaucrat' - that word seems t'have the connotation that I've got some level-a power that I c'n exercise over some poor member of th'public. More 'back-room boffin' - people tell me what they want 'n' if I haven't got it, I bloody-well make it for 'em."

Something occurred to him. "So, do you guys visit a lot of different dimensions and places like this?"

Foyer

"They saw us," Liz whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Of course they saw us," Leslie whispered back, "you were staring at them."

Jean made an exasperated growling noise in her throat, planted her hands between both of her companions' shoulder blades, and pushed them towards the table. "Come on. They invited us over. Let's not be rude...well, more rude."

"Hi!" Leslie piped up as they approached the table, slipping almost instinctively into Customer Service mode. "Sorry about her, she's...you know...sixteen."

"Oh, like you were any better at my age," Liz replied.

"I was a perfect angel growing up. I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I would describe you as many things, Leslie. 'Perfect angel' doesn't even crack the top 100." Liz looked back at the others at the table. "So, what's with the outfits? Is there a convention in town?"

Hoo boy, Jean thought. Yeah, we definitely should've had this conversation before coming inside.

[Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)]

Koyel looked at Wolf with a slightly tilted head. "Sounds like a bureaucrat to me," he said. Then, wryly, he admitted, "little jealous, actually. Took a shot at the Examination myself."

Mort looked over in Koyel in surprise and said, "you?"

"Yeah," Koyel said. "My moms reckoned I had some potential." He frowned. "Weren't the Gods' plan, though." He awkwardly twiddled his thumbs. "Ain't smart enough for the reading knack. All them letters sorta blur into..." he waved his hand, "...don't know how to say it."

Then Koyel turned back to the matter at hand. "I been out a few times. First time was... you know, I don't remember it so clear. Like... you know how you are in a dream, where you ain't quite yourself but more or less yourself? Felt like that."

Thao looked visibly uncomfortable, but said nothing.

"Anyways, I also did a hunt a little ways back with one of my mothers, that memory's pretty clear... but we were right outclassed. I'm good with a gun, but I ain't a Moon Hawk." He grimaced at the memory. "Probably better off drinkin' mead and whiskey out here than reckoning with stuff that makes a Red Pig look like pork fried rice."

Thao added, "me and Mortimer haven't been on one of these before. One of our associates from his world, Aseyu, has been in quite a few of these places — usually she's looking for new sapient species to have sex with." Mort snorted as if this was entirely on-brand for Aseyu. "And then there's the Dead God Thuexatiqome, whose memory banks are especially interesting." Again, that look of discomfort, since here "interesting" meant "existentially terrifying." Then she continued. "Western Amalgamated," she pointed in the direction of the bullet-filled target, "has sent some scouting and plunder teams as well, thought I hear they've had bad luck. Isaac and Alice Rose included, according to one of our sources."

"Alice Rose" is indeed Alice Winters with a retcon — she was adopted into the Rose family after her abusive mother's convenient demise, and did not care to keep her mother's surname.

Edited by KillerClowns on Apr 18th 2022 at 8:55:23 AM

Foyer- Hazel, Felix, Hilda, Leslie, Liz, Jean

"A convention?" Hazel racked her brain for a minute, trying to figure out what was meant by convention, until it suddenly hit her. The young girl wore a cat-ate-the-canary grin- no offense to Felix. "Nope. I'm a real genuine magician, conjurations and elementalism mostly. Name's Hazel Harris, this is my familiar, Felix," she said as the cat finished licking his plate- "and my new friend, Hilda. And you would be?"

Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)

Wolf took a sip of his drink and gave Koyel a grin. "Reading might not be a knack you have, but y'r command'v English is impeccable. How long have you been speaking it?" It occurred to him that English would be a truly alien language for Koyel, in a way no human on Earth experienced a different language.

The comment about Aseyu using interdimensional travel to look for new sexual experiences reminded him of Niven's Ringworld books and the humanoids practising rishathra. His grin took on a slight smirk. Good on her!

Caroline looked somewhat uncomfortable mentioning how "interesting" Thuexatiqome's memory banks were and Wolf got the impression that they were "interesting" in the same manner as the "interesting times" referred to in the old Chinese curse...

Then she pointed at the bullet-riddled target and identified it as Western Amalgamated. Wolf recalled that Mort had referred to the figure as a "corpser" and had mentioned "discount Nazis". "Scouting and plunder teams" made it clear that Western Amalgamated weren't the sort you wanted to encounter unless you had a decent weapon.

He had no idea who any of the people she named were, but gathered that Isaac and Alice must be attached to this Western Amalgamated.

He took another sip of his drink. "This is all new t'me. I've ridden all over th'North Island 'n' this'z the first time I've wound up passin' through a portal into another world. I don't think it's a common occurrence on my world - pretty sure it'd've made th'news if it was." Unless, of course, those it happened to never returned to talk about it... How many people went missing each year that were never ever found? Globally, not just New Zealand...

[Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)]

Koyel grimaced and said, "actually, I ain't speaking 'English'."

"There's something about these places," Thao explained, "that allows people to understand each other. The translations are usually good, and it leaves words untranslated if there's cases where too much would be lost."

"So I'm hearing you speakin' Qorisayane, and Mort," he nodded at his companion, "speakin' better Qorisayane than he usually does. Still got that accent, though, suppose 'cause the magic knows I'm used to it, where you just sound... kind of an Oriyith accent, real rough. Actual English, now..." he took another sip as he thought. "Nothing but the bits my own language ain't got. Computers, cyber-tech, stuff like that. I mean, Aseyu knows your English, well enough, and Caroline back there..."

Caroline said, "not as well as Mortimer, who's had to live there for a few years, but I get by."

Seeing the inevitable question, Mort's tone took a sudden, sharp turn for the grim: "it ain't a story I can share."

Then Mortimer said, "anyways, I can't guess how common portals are where you are, but what makes you so sure it'd show up on the news if someone went and came back? If you're some Artemis News exec and some guy's swearing he's been to another magical world, are you gonna take him serious? Or are you going to throw the bum out? Or..." he shrugged, "send CorpSec to follow up, blast any proof the guy has, wipe his social credit..."

"He's from twenty-twenty," Thao reminded Mort.

"...right," Mort said. "Okay. Point stands; can't get on the news if everyone thinks you're nuts."

Edited by KillerClowns on Apr 18th 2022 at 8:55:36 AM

Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)

Ain't speaking English... Some sort of automatic translation that enabled you to hear your own language when others spoke theirs and enabled them to hear theirs when you spoke yours... unless there was no proper equivalent in the language... which explained why Koyel's place names came across as they did, despite everything else apparently being in English. Very handy.

"I had no idea! That's very interesting."

Mort raised the point that people might not be inclined to report claims of travel to other realms and Wolf took a sip of his drink as he formulated his reply. "Well, I don't think any claims of interdimensional travel would be taken seriously, but if they were common-enough occurrences, I'd've thought that it'd be a well-known claim - along with the claims of 'Bigfoot' and 'Nessie' sightings, alien abductions, flat earth, chemtrails 'n' the government putting chemicals in the water t'turn th'frogs gay." He gave a twisted smile. "There's all sorts'v stupid shit that gets reported on, even if it's not credible... if only to give th'public a good laugh at the 'credulity of others'."

He took a puff of his vape and continued. "If it w're common, surely enough people would've mentioned it to others that it'd be a fairly well-known folk story, even if it weren't widely believed. If not on news outlets, then at least on social media." He paused for thought. "Not that I intend on telling anyone - I'm viewed'z enough of a 'weirdo' as it is, without telling people I rode my motorcycle into another universe - but not everyone would be so circumspect."

He gave the group an appraising eye. They were certainly a disparate bunch: the artist, the farmer and... Mort. "I gather y'all work together, even though Koyhel's from another world, 'n' I get the impression that y've got some pretty powerful enemies. Are y'some sorta PMC group or something?"

Edited by Wolf1066 on Feb 21st 2022 at 10:42:48 PM

Foyer: Dining Area

Hilda couldn't help but chuckle. "It's alright. No need to worry" She assured the coming women. "Kids can be curious, there's nothing wrong with that." The knight took a sip from her cup. "I know I was like that at her age."

"A convention?" She asked aloud. Before she could ask for clarification, Hazel explained that she was a genuine magician. It took a moment for Hilda, but she also understood what they had meant. Before answering herself, she turned to the young girl. "Are you alright with revealing that?" She asked with curiosity. "I mean, I know some people can be rather... fearful of magic, judgin from experience where I've been, so I thought you would rather keep it a secret."

"But anyways," The knight added, this time turning at the newcomers. "If you wonder if this is real plate, I assure you, it absolutely is." She knocked on her chestplate to demonstrate, letting out the sound of gloved knuckles against metal. The knight have out a proud smile that turned sheepish. "I was planning on changing into something more comfortable, but my friend here was really eager for some food." She admitted, motioning at Hazel in a playful way.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, anyways. My name is Hilda, as Hazel told you already." Hilda gave the three women a nod and went back to her plate, waiting for them to take a seat. Perhaps they would need to move to a larger table. "What brings you here, if I may ask?"

Foyer: Dining Area (Leslie, Jean, Liz; Hazel, Felix; Hilda)

The three newcomers took their seats.

"I'm Leslie," Leslie said. "This is Liz and Jean."

Liz raised a skeptical eyebrow at Hazel. "A real magician? Really?"

Jean leaned over to look at Liz. "After everything you've learned in the past 24 hours, that's what you're skeptical of?"

"Hey, just because one thing exists doesn't mean another, unrelated, thing also exists."

"She does have a point," Leslie said. "Also," she leaned close to Jean and dropped her voice to a whisper, "is it a good idea to be talking about the 'things we've learned?'"

"Don't worry," Jean said, "I think it's safe to trust them not to tell the wrong people we're here."

"Oh, you know them?"

"Never seen them before in my life. But I'm confident that they have no connection to the Goshawk or the VU because they don't come from the same universe we do."

"...what."

"Yeah, this is a conversation we really should've had in the parking lot...um, this place is something of an inter-dimensional nexus. That's why it's the perfect place for us right now. The Goshawk would never think to look for us here, because it would never occur to her that a place like this would exist."

Leslie blinked several times as she absorbed what Jean said. "Costumed super criminals, tragically lost my parents at a young age, and now alternate universes. My life really is a comic book now."

"As for your question," Jean said turning to Hilda, "we're kind of laying low right now."

"My ex's mom is a supervillain," Liz said bitterly, still studying the menu that had somehow appeared in front of her, "and she knows I know who she is."

(Dining Room (Foyer)- Hazel, Felix, Hilda, Leslie, Liz, Jean)

Hazel smiled cheerfully at the newcomers' disbelief that magic was a thing. And after I already cast a spell to pull out their chairs. Then again, they did mention superpowers, maybe one of them's a telekinetic or something. "Yep, a real magician. Sorcery, enchantments, flying broomstick- the works. About the only thing I don't do is cackle like a lunatic over a boiling cauldron."

Felix's obviously fake coughing up of a hairball was a poor disguise for uttering a word not suited for polite company, leaving his partner to glare daggers at him. "Watch it, buddy. Or I'll conjure a couple gallons of water on you, see how you like an impromptu bath." That, at least, quieted the more obvious insubordination.

"You said your ex's mom is a supervillain," Hazel continued, seemingly without a care for Felix's wiseassing. "Like the comic books? Do any of you have superpowers?"

Foyer: Dining Area

Hilda nodded along the conversation, having noted the younger girl's bitter tone. "Well, that sounds bad. I can't say that I understood much of what you just said." The knight admitted. "But if you want, I'll keep an eye out for you. If anyone comes looking for you here, they will have to pass through me." She gave Liz an assuring smile.

"It sounds like you've had quite an eventful journey." Hilda then said to Jean. "I'm sure you won't be bothered somewhere as far away as this one. At least for a while."

Beyond that, there wasn't much Hilda could add. Some terms were completely alien to her, although Hazel seemed to understand perfectly. "I feel like I'm going to miss part of the conversation here." She turned to the young witch. "You wouldn't mind translating what you mean, Hazel? Just to understand what you mean."

[Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)]

A simultaneous answer from Mort and Thao.

"No!" Mort said, visibly slightly offended.

"Sort of," Thao said.

Mortimer looked incredulously at Thao for a moment, then nodded, silently giving her the authority to speak for them both.

"As you've probably figured out," Thao said, "the Megas in our time and place deal with threats to their authority... extra-legally. And the government is unable, or unwilling, to stop them. So, in a sense," she laid out her hands, metaphorically "revealing her cards", "we are private military contractors. We provide physical and technological security and expertise to activists, whistle-blowers, and others whose lives are under threat by corporate agents."

"So I guess in that sense..." Mort said, "sure, what she said."

Then Thao glanced over at Koyel, and answered the inevitable question. "As for him... at one point, a woman reached out to us, saying she had extraordinary information on Western Amalgamated's sudden leaps in nanotechnology. Turns out she had a portal device, old family heirloom, and someone from Koyel's world had contacted her with it. So we expanded our operations to working with certain organizations on his side. Mostly trying to figure what Western Amalgamated is up to."

Finishing a quiet sip, Koyel added, "I come in pretty late. Got in touch with them through that Aseyu ul'Valmoth qo'Etanu we've mentioned a few times. I found proof one of their megacorps got in a tangle with the biggest pig in the jungle and left some stuff behind getting outta that mess, looked for a buyer, and next thing you know I'm roped in 'cause they ain't got anyone who can blend in on a farm." He gave a non-committal shrug. "Famine's been real bad up in the Riverlands, so any coin I can turn into rice is welcome."

Edited by KillerClowns on Apr 18th 2022 at 8:55:02 AM

Foyer: Dining Area (Leslie, Jean, Liz; Hazel, Felix; Hilda)

Liz and Leslie both slowly turned towards Felix. "Did...did your cat just...no..."

"Yeah," Jean said, not looking up from her menu, "pretty sure he did."

Leslie stared at Jean. "How are you not phased by a talking cat?"

Jean began counting on her fingers. "I work alongside a talking, three-eyed cuttlefish from another planet piloting a human suit, Dr. Brainstem routinely uses tech that wouldn't be out of place in one of the cheesier James Bond movies, Wild Hunt summons fairies to clean up the VU's messes, and I'm fairly certain Loxodon is a wereelephant. My threshold for weirdness is a bit higher than most people's."

"...I was going to say something, and then I heard the word 'wereelephant' come out of your mouth."

"You said your ex's mom is a supervillain," Hazel said. "Like the comic books? Do any of you have superpowers?"

"Does a third-degree black belt in karate count?" Leslie asked. "Because otherwise, no."

"That is the sad reality of the world we're from," Jean said. "No superheroes, only supervillains."

Leslie smiled at Hilda's offer of protection for Liz. "You'll have to get in line. That bird bitch comes after my sister again, and I'll break more than just her nose."

"Hey!" Liz said a little too loudly, as if she was trying to change the subject. "How did you guys get fish? I don't see any fish on the menu."

"You don't eat meat," Leslie said. "Why do you care?"

"It's the principle of the thing." Liz turned the menu over in her hands several times. "They gave me a vegetarian menu. First they knew Jean was a doctor, then they knew I'm a vegetarian...this place is weird in ways I'm not sure how I feel about them."

Edited by apocalemur on Feb 21st 2022 at 11:05:26 AM

Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)

Wolf quietly sipped his Black Russian and puffed on his vape as the others spoke. There was a lot to unpack and it posed just as many questions as it answered. He glanced in the direction of the ravaged target. It was evident that Western Amalgamated had considerable resources and technology to bring to bear against anyone they viewed as "threats to their authority" - and that was without having access to the means to cross dimensional boundaries and advances in nanotechnology.

The idea of some megacorporation with that level of power, and no legal constraints against using it, was frankly terrifying.

He gestured in the general direction of the target. "You protect people fr'm guys who dress like that?" He shook his head in wonder, not disbelief. "That's some serious, solid-chrome-balls, shit."

He took a decent swig from his drink. "I'm guessing that it's financially beneficial t'certain politicians t'not challenge these, ah, megas. Have you had much luck working out what Western Amalgamated is up to? Are they hoping to find Precursor artefacts in Qorisa that will further their agenda, or what?"

(Dining Area- Hazel, Felix, Hilda, Liz, Jean, Leslie)

Hazel racked her brain trying to think of a way to describe things to Hilda- it sure wasn't going to be easy. "The best way I can put it is this. Think of superpowers as abilities that are clearly above what normal humans can do, but not necessarily magical in nature and origin- although they certainly can be. Comic books are stories that have an intermingling of words and pictures, and tend to feature a ton of characters with superpowers, both good and bad."

"Villains but no heroes, huh? If you want, I might have some stuff that could change that, at least in the short term." Hazel gave the trio a look that showed she was with them, if only in spirit. She'd dealt with a few nasty things despite her young age, and was able to hurt them and get away, if nothing else.

Dining Area

"Ha!" Hilda couldn't help but let out a hearty chuckle at Leslie's promise. "That's the spirit. Kid is not going to have many problems then." She added with enthusiasm.

The knight took a swig of her drink as she listened intently at Hazel's explanation. When the witch finished, she gave her a swift nod. "Alright, I think I understand now." Her expression became disheartened. She turned to the others. "So, there's mostly bad people which hold the power? That sounds terrible. Is there no one to stand up to them, to counter with their own good?"

Hilda looked at Hazel, who tried to offer the three women some help. "I'm with her." The knight added. "I don't know if I could be of much use, but if I let such possible injustice go on free, I would be faulting my own vows. So count me in when the time comes."

"Until then," Hilda took another bite of her meal, to make sure it wouldn't get cold. She turned to everyone at the table. "Is there anything you planned to do while staying in here? I was planning on just exploring the place, but I'm open to other ideas."

[Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)]

Thao shook her head and said, "I'm just in support and logistics. Mort's the guy who risks his neck."

"And," Mort said with typically Minnesotan modesty, "most of 'em are only in civilian-grade biopolymer vests. Full set of LPM armor ain't easy to get; even when you're a Mega, there's a time investment getting it custom fitted, and a bottleneck on how much military-grade biopolymer anyone can produce..."

"Which," Thao added, "brings me to your next question. Western Amalgamated seems to be working with farming-focused clans on... something." She nodded towards Koyel, "we're paying him to find out, since none of us would fit in on a Qorisayane farm. This seems weird, right? Like we're missing something?" She shook her head. "Too many theories, not enough certainties, but it's probably related to Western Amalgamated's materials science leaps. Their biopolymers; even those who don't know about Qorisa know it's weird that an agricultural company managed to make a discovery like this."

"Of course," Mort added, "they could get that buying Dead God artifacts and leaving well enough alone, and instead they're trying to control farmlands in an empire whose government has a kill-on-sight policy towards corpos and actual goddamn wizards."

"They're really more like special forces," Thao said. "With psychic powers." Then, back to Wolf. "But that is the question. What is making Western Amalgamated need to control, specifically, territory in Qorisa?"

Mort sighed and said, "anyways, anyone else hungry?"

Edited by KillerClowns on Apr 18th 2022 at 8:55:13 AM

Dining Area (Leslie, Liz, Jean; Hazel, Felix; Hilda)

Liz's grip on the menu tightened. You can get through this, Liz, she said to herself. They're not talking about you-know-who...

"So, there are organizations and alliances that could be a threat to the villains, if they knew they existed. The supervillains go out of their way to stay below their notice, so no attempting to, say, crash the moon into the Earth. We also have reason to believe that they have technology designed to mess with cameras that may pick up evidence of their existence, and other technology that can mess with people's ability to accurately remember what they've seen. Interpol isn't going to go chasing after something most of the world would dismiss as a fantasy without a compelling reason. Which is where we come in. My boyfriend's father is assembling a private organization dedicated to fighting these supervillains." She looked to Hazel. "Think of him as the Charles Xavier to our X-Men."

Leslie looked at Jean. "Except the X-Men actually have superpowers. We have your medical license, my black belt, Lawrence's research skills, and Simon's 'knows-a-guy-who-knows-a-guy.'"

"Don't forget, Arlo used to be a literal rocket scientist on their home planet. I don't know why the villains seem to be the only ones with powers," Jean continued, "but I'm told the others have a lead on a genius quantum physicist we can recruit."

"So if Jack is Charles Xavier," Leslie mused, "would that make you Jean Grey?"

"Ha ha."

"No, think about it. You're the only woman among the OG Capeless who joined ever-so-slightly after the others. Which I guess means Seymour would be Cyclops...I don't know the others well enough to guess who's who..."

"Ooh, Lawrence is totally Beast," Jean said, "'cause he's bookish and intellectual. Simon's an extroverted smartass, so he'd be Iceman...I guess that leaves Arlo to be Angel by default, though they don't really have anything in common."

"So who does that make me, Storm?"

"No, you're totally Wolverine," Liz said.

"Okay," Leslie said, "so who does that make you?"

Liz thought for a second. "Wolverine's teenage hanger-on who's in way over her head? Yeah, I'm definitely Jubilee."

"Hey, I like Jubilee!"

Jean turned to Hilda. "It occurs to me that you probably have absolutely no idea what we're talking about. Um, as far as our plans were concerned, I don't really know much about this place. Jack's the one who found it, and he didn't really tell me much about it other than how to get here."

Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)

The furrowing of Wolf's brow was entirely lost beneath the hat and behind the sunglasses. He took a long drag on his vape and exhaled slowly. Incongruously, his left forefinger tapped frantically against the side of his bottle.

"So... their public face is'n agricultural company that makes biopolymers 'n' they have access to a world that has ancient technological artefacts but their main aim is to control farmlands in that world. And it's a risk for them t'do so, so they obviously wouldn't be doing it there if they could just get what they wanted and do it elsewhere. That rules out simply buying artefacts or learning local processes."

He looked in Koyel's direction. "Is there something in the soil or something in the crops produced on Quorisa that's special that would make it important for them to maintain a presence? Or something about Quorisa itself that makes things possible that aren't possible on Earth? Or is there a Dead God in that area that they need access to in order to do what they desire?"

Something else struck him and he turned his attention back towards Mort and Caroline. "Wizards? Psychic powers? Those things exist in your universe? Far fucking out! And, yeah, I'm hungry. I was about to suggest we take a wander towards the Inn and see what's on the menu."

Edited by Wolf1066 on Mar 12th 2022 at 10:35:58 PM

[Camping Area (Mort, Koyel, Caroline, Wolf)]

As Koyel stood up and started meandering towards the dining area, he said, "thinkin' it's the nanites, myself."

Mort and Thao, who had also been standing, briefly paused to looked in incredulity to the farmer.

Koyel continued his explanation: "Temple radio does history lessons twice a moon. So, lady on the radio was talking 'bout how our empire's made it four thousand years..."

"From a certain perspective," Thao pointed out, more for Wolf's benefit than anything else. "There's been at least a dozen polities calling themselves the 'Qorisayane Empire' in his world's history, and a few times there were two continental powers competing for it..."

"Different Thrones," Koyel replied, "same Empire. Like a fire-tree, see: it catches fire from time to time, but nobody's ever burned the roots. Each time it regrows a bit different." He tapped his forehead knowingly. "And history lady said a big part of the roots of this fire-tree were actually in our soil. We got these 'nanite' thingies in our dirt that makes our land extra-fertile. Ain't to say we ain't famines, but baseline's head and shoulders above anywhere else."

"Could be part of it," Mort said, "but Western Amalgamated got guys like Dr. Rose. They can make shit grow anywhere they like. Could probably feed the whole world if Gunvaldsen wasn't more interested in ruling it."

"My guess," Thao said, "which Aseyu has mentioned as well, is there's something they where they need the nanites, it's not just a nice-to-have, and they can't replicate on Earth. But..." she trailed off. There were too many possibilities for Thao to comfortably venture a guess. "Qorisa mostly grows descendants of Earth crops that came along with its human population. Its dyes are unique on its world, but easily replicated on Earth. The only truly unique crops are a few fruits whose flavors Western Amalgamated replicated but was unable to find more than a niche market for..."

As they said all this, Mort, Koyel, and Thao were already sauntering int he general direction of the inn proper.

Edited by KillerClowns on Apr 18th 2022 at 8:54:45 AM