MERC XVIII: Affordable Misdeeds and Friendly Canines

[Gnrlshrimp]

[MERC Entrance]

There's certain advantages to keeping yourself hidden from everyone. It means that, unless someone's a serious history buff, no one should recognise that the gentleman standing outside MERC's door is Professor Affidavit. The change in hair colour and the removal of all his physical imperfections helps make it a little harder to make the connection even if someone did go digging that far into the past.

Clad in a simple, light grey three-piece suit, the silver-haired gentleman with piercing blue eyes reaches up and raps on the door three times with his cane. With his other hand, he reaches into his waistcoat pocket and fishes out a pocket watch, briefly checking the time before pocketing it once more.

What may or may not be apparent to whoever answers the door is that the gentleman a'knocking on their door is actually a little something known as a hard light hologram. Within his "body", a little device is frantically spinning around, emitting light in very precise patterns and warping space in a very carefully shaped field to give its light this contained, physical form. A particularly observant individual who can perceive things at a much higher framerate than the average human might well notice brief irregularities in his appearance every time he moves. He whistles quietly as he waits to see who answers.

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Entrance]

Actually, these days the door opens itself.

The miracles of science!

If Affy isn't too in awe to move after witnessing this marvel of technology, he will find himself in the mostly empty main room. A couple of trolls having some kind of axe throwing competition.
An entire couch is taken up by a gigantic bear-person who seems to be sleeping deeply.
No one of them even seem to be concerned about greeting the newcomer, keeping themselves to their game, or their sleeping.
Might need to call their attention somehow, or just sneak around the base to see if anyone spots him I guess.

[Med Bay]

"Don't worry, mister Razortooth. I will find out why its acting like this and report back to you." Astrana says, attempting to address the goblins apparent concerns. Then she falls silent again, letting the orc talk and Dipsnig reply.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Moonwell Investigation]

Electra slows as she follows Astrana to her office, her mental defenses kicking in as the magic tries to access her mind. Although she has been training her mental defenses ever since discovering her technopathy ability, and despite her body's own formidable access controls, the magic is powerful enough that it is slowly able to penetrate her defenses. Outside the door, she presses her uncontaminated hand to her temple and closes her eyes, trying to focus enough to get a few words out.

"Nnnngh....magic intrusion...trying to get into my head....sleep mode defense set...." Is all she manages to stammer out, before staggering into Astrana's office as her body's last line of defense activates, putting her to sleep. Unfortunately, this means that she more or less falls face first onto Astrana's floor. Despite how light she makes her armor seem, she's still quite heavy with it on. Astrana may have trouble shifting her without someone with quite a bit of strength.

[Morty]

[Med Bay]

Dipsnig's eyes narrow and his ears point downwards. Slavery. He's done plenty of bad things in his life, but this is one thing his very bones tell him he won't do.

"Yes, I understand. What did your father do, then? This... other path?"

[Hattish Thing]

[Med Bay]

The orcish woman breathes in deeply before steadying herself by pressing her back against the wall. In truth, she hadn't quite come to terms with what had happened, it was only so recently, yet it all felt as if it'd happened years ago. In an attempt to further comfort herself, she rubs her arm roughly before speaking, her voice hoarse and husky.

She continues to look down.

"Atigat iuk ij place, ij greaav chaukm ro ragaumn waavas. Ij gaave avo avhe julderworld, nalkramal moravaluk muukav noav gho."

"Iav iuk.... ij diukhabhe deaavh, ij cowarduk deaavh, agh yeav."

"Jiak kij katu. Jiak kij... alhorv."

--

"There is a place, a great chasm of raging water. A gate to the underworld, where mortals must not go."

"It is... a weak death, a cowards death, and yet."

"I am here. I am... alive."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[MERC Entrance -> Lobby]

"Curious." Still, it seems welcoming enough, doesn't it? In he strolls, looking around, tapping the ground lightly with his cane with each step. Trolls throwing axes aren't likely to be of much help, and it's generally best to let sleeping bears lie, isn't it?

Perhaps he's come at a bad time? He flips open the pocket watch again. Well, no matter, he has plenty of time yet to find someone suitable. With no clear guidance on where to go, he starts wandering. Maybe there's an office or something for him to drop in and say hello?

[Shadowcaller]

[Med Bay]

Astrana makes sure to keep an eye on the staff so it doesn't do anything else odd. She preferred predictable pact bonds before occasionally useful ones.

[Lobby]

When he is about to leave the main room, one of the trolls finally take notice of him. "Hey! Mon!" He shouts as he comes running over. "Where you be going?"

[Morty]

[Med Bay]

"As hard to believe as it may sound, it seems the chasm transported you here, instead of killing you," Dipsnig says. "The good news is that the slavers are very unlikely to follow you here."

[Hattish Thing]

[Med Bay]

The orcish woman remains silent for several long moments, coming to terms with her new reality. She didn't fully believe it, it didn't make sense, the existence of this other world went against all that she'd been taught. All the old stories seemed to be contradicted by this realization, everything she thought she knew appeared to have been wrong.

Her father, her friends... they were likely gone forever.

She finally responds.

"Whaav... iuk avhiuk plache, agh... whaav ukhould jiak erd?"
<"What... is this place, and... what should I do?">

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Lobby]

Affy turns and smiles at the troll, nodding politely. He leans on his cane, his voice elegant, polite, gentlemanly, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry, you looked so wrapped up in your game, I didn't want to interrupt. I was just looking for someone appropriate to discuss some business with. I wasn't expecting to just be let in without someone asking what my reason for being here."

[Morty]

[Med Bay]

Dipsnig's ears twitch. How to explain the Nexus to someone so confused already...

"The Nexus is a place where worlds converge, meet and mix together. Your world, my world, many others. There's opportunity here, but also danger. As for what you should do... everyone here has to find an answer to that."

[Hattish Thing]

[Med Bay]

She spends several moments deep in thought, concentrating on wrapping her mind around all that she's just learned. It takes a considerable amount of mental effort to stem the tide of flowing panic coursing through her veins, but she manages to briefly overcome these feelings, locking them away deep inside.

Now was the time for strength, not weakness.

"Nalkramal... ukhould jiak gho?"
<"Where... should I go?">

[Shadowcaller]

[Lobby]

"Business, eh?" The troll scratches his head. "Ya probably should talk to da' boss-people." He glances back to his buddies before letting out resigned sigh and gestures for the man to follow him. "Follow me."
The mercenary will then guide him through the corridors of the base until they reach a door with the sign "Chief Executive". After knocking a few times however, it is clear that no one is opening so he just shrugs and gestures for the man to continue to follow him. "Boss is a little gob, but with a big voice, heh. Must be using it on his mate right now. We'll go and see the elf-man instead." He briefly comments before continuing down the corridor.

However, his guide suddenly freezes as a woman comes around the corner. She is dressed in light armor and have a pair of goggles for seemingly good reasons considering the mass snakes that slithers on top of her head.
The troll seems unsure what to do as the woman tilts her head, looking at the visitor. "Whose this, Juma?"
"Erm... guest. Wanted to discuss business. Was just taking him to ya." The troll addresses her while staring down at the floor, desperately looking everywhere else but her.

"How convenient." She offers her hand to the man. "Welcome to MERC then. Dena Xifhara, Senior officer of this sorry lot."

[Moonwell Investigation]

Astrana gets a grim look on her face when Electra suddenly collapses, thank the makers that they hadn't run that analyze first. Electra had been right to go here first.

In Electra's mind she is suddenly assaulted by a dream vision.

She can see herself taking the water from the moon well, just like she remembers doing. However, in this version there a gigantic shadowy head of a serpent looming over her as she gets up with the water, looking at her accusingly as she and Astrana teleports back to MERC.
Then the vision shifts to Astrana's office yet in this version she doesn't collapse, instead Astrana is looking over her hands and to her shock, they're turning into stone.

While this dream Electra helplessly watches the warlock attempt to fight the petrification through various means, it only seems to be getting worse. It spreads across her arms and feet and then over her torso and shoulders. Finally, the vision zooms in on the dream Electra's face and for a moment she is looking right at herself, their eyes meeting for a moment as her dream self seemingly speaks directly to herself. "Do I really want this?"

Then she opens her mouth as if to scream in anguish, yet no sound leaves her mouth as she is completely petrified the very next moment.

Now the vision shifts back to her and Astrana returning to the MERC base, yet instead of going to Astrana's office, the two wait around until Electra can teleport again. They teleport to what at first seem to be back to the moon well, but as the vision zooms out she can see that this moon well is located at the side of a snowy mountain. There a spectral figure of what appear to be a small gorgon awaits them. She looks vaguely like Natharia at first, but as she stands there just staring at them, Electra will realize that her appearance is constantly shifting. One moment she looks vaguely like what might be a tiefling child, the next it actually looks vaguely like a much younger version of her.

The dream Electra and Astrana do not appear to see this spectral gorgon however, instead they place the snake they collected from the other moonwell in the water and then put their hands in the waters as well as start to chant phrases that she cannot understand yet will remember with such clarity that she could recite them perfectly a month from now.

As they do this chant, the vision zooms in her dream-self's face once again and she turn to look directly at herself once more. "Now I am saved."

Then Electra will wake up on the couch in Astrana's office, the tiefling having her back turned as she appears busy grinding herbs in a stone cup, her tail swinging back and fourth as she works.

[Deathkeeper]

[An Epic Quest]

"I see," Corvus says, stroking his chin. Surprisingly, stealth tends to be one of his stronger suits when needed, though the king's ransom needed to gain a bit of the material might be more of a problem. He raises an eyebrow at Willa. "What do you think?"

An Epic Quest

Willa seems increasingly unimpressed with this quest.
”I think that our options involve you doing most of the work on this one because I am highly unqualified to fight an army of angry drow and am also broke, or we just go ask one of the other gorgons we were told about. Maybe they won’t send us to our deaths just to spit in a cup.” she says irritably.

[Morty]

[Med Bay]

Dipsnig's not really in the business of giving life advice, but there's no harm in giving her some direction, is there?

"You can go anywhere you like. But it does make picking any one place pretty difficult. Maybe you can do what you did before winding up here. Some people find it easier."

[Hattish Thing]

[Med Bay]

After some time, she nods in acceptance.

"Thalk lat."

"Jiak... knare whaav jiak muukav dho."
--

<"Thank you.">

<"I... know what I must do.">

[Morty]

[Med Bay]

"Good luck, then."

Once the orc is well enough to move, she'll be given some spare warm clothes and sent on her way. Dipsnig will then turn to talk to Astrana.

"That was one of the weirder things to happen to me recently."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Lobby]

Well, now he's getting somewhere. Dena's hand is shaken. Affy's hand doesn't feel flesh-y, it's rather hard and smooth to the touch, and sort of seems to get a little fuzzy round the edge as they shake. "Oh, that's interesting. Enchanted goggles of some sort, I assume? They let you see without risking any unfortunate, mmm, spontaneous statue-creation?" He asks, retracting his hand. "Ah, excuse me. As he says, I am here on business. But I would prefer to discuss it in private, as I'm sure most of MERC's customers do. Shall we?" He asks, motioning for her to lead the way.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Moonwell Investigation]

Electra snaps awake, sure the dream she just had was a warning of some kind. She sits up quietly and looks to her contaminated hand, half expecting to see the start of the petrification in her dream, then looks at Astrana.

"Sorry I conked out on you like that. Did you manage to learn anything while I was out?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Investigation]

Astrana quickly turns around. "Electra! What happened?" She demands. "You've only been out for about..." She glances at her watch. "Twenty minutes. So I haven't actually been able to do much of anything yet."

[Lobby]

As they shake hand, a crystal-like object comes floating around the corner. As soon as it turns in the direction of the visitor it starts scanning him for anything usual. It's primarily made to detect enchantments but can also recognize the functions of electronic devices.
"Something like that, yeah." Dena replies as she gestures for him to follow her, the troll making a 180 degree turn to get back to the safety of the main room. "Eh, see you, mons." Then he's outta there!
"Lets, but I don't believe I caught your name?" She asks as she starts leading him through the corridor, the floating device following her. "Just don't mind Violet, she scans everything. Can't help it, even if its rude."

[Med Bay]

"It was rather weird, mister Razortooth." Astrana agrees in a neutral tone. "But if you excuse me, I need to figure out why the staff is behaving oddly."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Moonwell Investigation]

Electra rubs her eyes with her uncontaminated hand and frowns.

"I think the magic from the moonwell was trying to send me a message. Essentially, an ultimatum: 'Return my stuff, or I'll turn you to stone." She shifts uncomfortably. "There was a dream when my body put me to sleep to try and keep it out of my mind. It showed me slowly turning to stone while everything anyone did to help only made things worse. Then it shifted to us teleporting to a different moonwell, putting the snake we caught in the water there, putting our hands in and performing a chant." Her frown deepens.

"I think whatever deity or whatever that Shanti tinted the moonwell to is more or less in control of it now; there was a spectral creature at the second moonwell it wants us to go to, and it watched while we put the snake back and did the chant. The first dream showed us taking the stuff and it watching, too, come to think of it."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Lobby]

Whether or not Violet will be able to detect the little device at the heart of the hologram is dependent on its ability to scan through a densely packed field of light packed into a localised distortion that causes it to bend back in on itself. A does not connect to B directly inside the field, it takes the scenic route instead. It's a pretty effective trick for curving things around the projector in the centre, but magic has a bit of habit of seeing straight through such things. Violet will definitely be able to determine that the whole body is light though, rather than anything else.

How much does MERC know? How good is their intelligence? How far back do their records go?

Affy hasn't really poked his head above water much while they've been around, but for all he knows they might have a budding historian here. But it shouldn't matter here anyway, should it?

"Ah yes, you're quite right, Miss Xifhara. My name is Professor Affidavit" The title might as well be part of his name. It's all he's been known as for a long time. "And as Violet has likely determined, this is all just a trick of the light. I stopped having a real body quite some time ago. Technically those goggles are completely unnecessary around me. Not that I'd suggest taking them off here, of course, but if you wanted to take them off once we're in your office, you're quite welcome to do so without concern. I imagine they might get a little uncomfortable at times?"

[Shadowcaller]

[MERC Corridors]

The drone will be able to tell that the body is made of light, yet keeps scanning over and over despite the lack of more success. With a limited intellect Violet's approach to things she could not read right away was to try to scan them over and over again until success was achieved. It rarely worked, but she couldn't think of anything else.

"At times. I usually wear a pair of sunglasses, but I believe you can see the dangers with that." Den remarks as they seem to have reached her office. Its a door with the sign "Senior Officer" that she opens, revealing a very tidy office with a range of models on a set of shelves just above the desk. Dena walks up to the desk and sits down on it rather than on the chair behind it. "But what can we do for a man that don't even have a body anymore?" She seems to prefer to keep her goggles on for now.

[Moonwell Investigation]

((I forgot to mention an important detail. All the versions of the specter, regardless if they looked like Astrana, Electra, Natharia, etc. they all had hair made up of snakes, AKA, they were all gorgons with with different base races.))

Astrana strokes her chin thoughtfully once Electra have explained what happened. "This only confirms my own suspicions actually. I didn't think it would be able to cause pertrification from simply touching the waters. Which puts us in a spot, it clearly wants to spread its influence through more moon wells and we don't really know what long-term effects that could have." She shakes her head. "This is getting out of hand, I have to talk to mister Razortooth at once. Why don't you come along and explain your vision to him?"

[Gullara]

An Epic Quest

Willa seems increasingly unimpressed with this quest.
”I think that our options involve you doing most of the work on this one because I am highly unqualified to fight an army of angry drow and am also broke, or we just go ask one of the other gorgons we were told about. Maybe they won’t send us to our deaths just to spit in a cup.” she says irritably.

[An Epic Quest]

Kirk shrugs. "It's not impossible you could avoid either of those options. I'm just pointing out the risks. To be fair to Dena, she's not as familiar with them as I am. She might have been asking a bit more than she realized." Another thought does occur to him. "There could be another option. There's a reason why those trees are so closely protected. They've been stolen from before. Stealing from thieves sounds much more approachable."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dena's Office]

Affy steps inside the office and shuts the door behind him. There's nothing really concerning about being scanned by Violet, but it is getting just a little bit annoying. "You say that as if it's a bad thing to lose one's body. It comes with a few perks. Not that I'd recommend it for everyone. Immortality always comes at a price. For me, losing the, mmm, physical pleasures that body of flesh grants was not too high a price to pay."

He would take a seat, but it'd be a little awkward to be sitting down right there with Dena perched over him on the desk. For now he decides to simply lean against the wall, resting his hands on his cane. "Be that as it may, some individuals still decided to make an attempt on my life. That's something I'd very much like not to happen again. Now, my body being such as it is, killing me requires something of an unorthodox approach, and preventing that may therefore also require unorthodox, potentially unscrupulous methods. So before we get too deep into discussions, perhaps you could clarify for me what exactly is and isn't acceptable business for MERC? Where do you draw your lines?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Moonwell Investigation]

Electra nods grimly.

"Yes, this could be a ruse intended to get us to spread its influence for it, but I don't want to take too long in case what I saw is actually true. Dipsnig should probably know either way, though."

[An Epic Quest]

Corvus nods. Yes, that seems a much more reasonable task that both he and Willa can undertake. The bandits might actually be here in the Nexus as well.

"Indeed, and they might even be here in the Nexus, as well. Do you have information on where we might find thieves that sell such things?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Moonwell Investigation]

"Yeah, either way he has to know the situation before we take any initiative of our own. If it indeed is spreading its influence and we would involuntarily aid it, then MERC would be mixed up in that mess." Astrana argues as gestures for Electra to follow her.

They will soon be knocking on the door to Dipsnig's office.

[Dena's Office]

"I'd say that MERC operates under a very simple guideline. We have a reputation as a organization that are opposed to slavery and large-scale attacks against the major cities and organizations. So if your mission involves something like and could easily be tracked back to us, then that would soil our reputation and thus be against our guidelines. So its all about how public it is really. Though we reserve our right to decline any mission that would that would indirectly hurt us in other ways too, but its hard to make rules against all such things as I'm sure you understand. People do come to us with the weirdest requests." Dena explains.

[Morty]

[Moonwell Investigation]

Astrana and Electra will be let in quickly, and find Dipsnig in his office buried in some spreadsheets on his computer.

"Electra. Astrana. This is about your investigation into that moon well, I presume."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Dena's Office]

"Nothing that immediately sounds like it might cause conflict then. Let me put it this way; after they failed to kill me, I gave them something of an ultimatum. Conditions on which their actions would be overlooked if they can be met within the-" He pauses, flips open a pocket watch and stares at it, "Hmm, the next 19 hours exactly. If they can't be met, well, I'm not entirely trusting of any branch of law enforcement, so a more direct approach would be in order."

Affy lets his gaze wander round the room as he talks, curious about what sort of models Dena collects. Never one to sit still for long, he starts drumming his fingers on the top of his cane. "Now there's money to be made here for you irrespective of the outcome of that ultimatum, which I'll get into in a minute. But if the worst case scenario should come to pass and 19 hours from now I'm forced to take action, how would MERC feel about, say, a kidnapping?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Moonwell Investigation]

Electra nods grimly.

"Yes, sir. There's been a....development." She glances at Astrana but doesn't say more. The warlock might be able to explain some of this better than she can.