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Jean buds into a pebble and then back out again. He sets the pebble to repeatedly dropping a small twig on the unconscious half-centaur. No black stuff oozes out.
Jean has the pebble switch to Shiryu. The twig falls near Shiryu, then the twig and the pebble disappear.
Ilk - "Did I forget to mention that attacking a Realms Lord is a bad idea?"
Jean - "I don't know anyone who would do such a thing."
Ilk - "Not any more."
Jean - "Exactly."
Ilk notices a small leak in the edge of this promontory, about pebble-sized. He sticks a rock in the hole, and places a note nearby, "Realms Master --- please replace as necessary."
Ilk asks Pharaban about the pedestals and the missing individuals. A massive update happens. Cailin is blamed for almost everything.
Pharaban does something to Ilk, and for a moment, Ilk has a moment of perception where his tendrils are little messengers running out and then back again.
Ilk sits down to integrate his recently acquired input, and Pharaban keeps towing the Logrus back towards Chaos.
Ilk asks Pharaban if he could check for the missing souls or essences of Shiryu, Serpent's Apprentice, and a bunch of dragons. Ilk starts towing while Pharaban searches.
Ilk mentions to Pharaban that the power of the attack seems to be proportional to the power of the target. Pharaban declares that is his trick, and that he will meet him back in Chaos.
Pharaban takes a short-cut back to Chaos and disappears.
Meanwhile, across Chaos, a number of sacred places suddenly explode, catch on fire, or do various other nasty things. Jean notices and asks Verra. Minions are sent to investigate, and determine that the explosions are all near pedestals. Jean and Verra discuss the pedestals.
The most frightening things that Jean can imagine gets in touch with him. Jean quivers as House Head to Old Lord.
Pharaban - "You. You have all of the ear-marks of a God of Information."
Jean claims that he is trying to avoid a godhood; Pharaban tenders hope that Jean succeeds. He then states that someone with his earmarks needs something.
Pharaban pushes into Jean's mental repository something. It's a package. It has Pharaban's seal on it, and it says, "Danger. Open only with caution." The package is for anybody who can figure out how to open it. The person who should open it is someone who is interested in the fate of dragons.
Jean informs the mob of the package. Princess Chandra says that she'll take a go and reaches into Jean's saucer. She pulls forth from Jean's brain something. Jean doesn't even remember it having been there. He only remembers the sensation of Princess Chandra ripping something from his brain, but doesn't remember Pharaban placing it there. Jean is confused, and confirms with Princess Chandra that he didn't actually need that. Jean quivers to Pharaban, and is told that he may depart Pharaban's ways. Jean leaves at speed.
Princess Chandra unfolds something then hands it to Suhuy. Suhuy examines it briefly. It's a map. For moments while he is in contact with it, he can actually understand small parts of the Sea of Chance. The note is passed to Marial, who studies it briefly, then Melk, who looks at it and instantly hands it to Princess Chandra.
Suhuy, Princess Chandra, Kintani swallows a Jean, Marial climbs onto the dragon, Melk becomes a waveform. Jean notices that there is more gold dust in the dragon than before, but doesn't care, because it's not white dust.
Bansai-Ilk sets in motion a cron job to remind Jean to tell him if he needs help in the place with the rocks. Suhuy leaves enough tendrils behind to contact Ilk in the tree if he needs reinforcements.
Marial directs Kintani; the others swim. Ilk notices that there is something following him through the Sea. It's an amorphous blob, and might just be a presence more than a being. It seems to be following him personally, not the group as a whole. He warns Princess Chandra discreetly, but she can't see it and he can't warn the others discreetly.
Jean notices that the Logrus gummi bears are trying to convince the sand to form into food so they can have a picnic. Ilk pulls in a tiny picnic set from shadow. The gummi bears stuff themselves happily, then explode. The bits form a cloud that starts forming into a Logrus on the opposite end of the promontory from the Pattern. Jean and Ilk chat for a bit, then Ilk arranges to have the Logrus class moved to keep an eye on the new Logrus. Jean fishes them, along with a creationist.
The group swimming through the Sea reaches the farther shore. When they arrive, Marial suggests that she, Kintani, and Jean be the beach-head. Kintani is not pleased, but goes along with it. Marial doesn't want any Logrus with them; she wants to be as unnoticable as possible.
Marial says that if she does not communicate with them before this piece of string completely disappears, we can decide to become a second wave or to acquire reinforcements. The piece of string just sits there.
The first thing that Kintani notices is that this entire place is made entirely out of gold. Among the things that are made of gold is, over there, the soul of one of the heads of the council member. He's even standing on gold. And it's creeping up his legs. Kintani confirms that limbs can be replaced, and tries to burn his legs off. His fire won't burn his legs, but Marial's sword will cut them off. Kintani takes off.
They explore, at Marial's direction. The only place here that is not golded is a black pedestal, like the other one. Marial suggests that he land on the pedestal. He does so, and then spits out Jean. Jean is told that they're doomed. Jean is told not to touch anything -- gold seems to be contagous. Jean starts duct-taping over controls on the saucer.
Marial, while scouting, notices somebody in the distance screaming. She sends Jean to check it out. The person is not familiar-looking, and is staked out in a molten river of gold. Jean reports back. Marial says that this used to be a popular curse -- turning things into all one substance -- until it made too much trouble and Shiryu put a stop back to it way back then. The screaming guy in the river is probably the cause of it.
Marial tells Kintani to stay here, and burn anything that tries to come through the pedestal. She tells Jean that she is going to use Jean as a conveyance device to get out. She makes it out; Jean fails to touch anything.
Kintani starts figuring where the important people are in this place.
After some time, Marial returns without Kintani or Jean. She says, "Well, I've got good news and I've got bad news. The bad news is, nobody with Serpent power should go in there. The good news is that everyone that we are looking for is there. The bad news is that there appears to be a pedestal there. The good news is that the person in charge doesn't seem to be there."
She doesn't want to talk about it more here, but Suhuy should tell Pharaban to stay clear of it on his way back.
Jean breaks the creationist by having him try to dome over the black splotch. Ilk recommends to Jean that he stop telling people to investigate that black thing -- every person that he has told to do so to date has been eaten by it.
Suhuy and Princess Chandra head back to their Chaos. The blotch follows him. Princess Chandra goes to shore first, to prepare a ... welcome for the follower. Suhuy waits for a while then goes in. Sitting on the shore is someone with all of the markings of an Old Lord and a massive amount of power. The person greets Suhuy, states that he's the welcoming committee, and says that Princess Chandra recommended that he head towards Thelbane. Suhuy heads that-a-way, and the guy by the shore starts unfolding into something larger.
There is a large thump and a ringing sound. Almost a bell, except for the fact that there are no bells in Chaos. There is a moment of silence as people wait for Snarsht to pounce on that, and then nothing happens and people go back to their business.
[In the card game, Snarsht looks wistful for a moment.]
Jean fishes a member of the Dancers Guild to the scene of a struggle near the edge of Chaos, and is told that he shouldn't be anywhere near that.
Jean moseys away from the area at close to light speed.
Princess Chandra greets Suhuy right after the ringing noise and asks Suhuy if they should go check that out. Suhuy acts eager, is scolded by Princess Chandra, and then tries to look contrite but fails.
They head to the shore. There is what appears to be a large bag with a wet cat thrashing around inside it. Suhuy and Princess Chandra discuss the situation.
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