22:41 <banana> It's a long drive down to Berkshire, and Dylan is a worrier. 22:41 <VoxPVoxD> He's got a dog to keep him company, at least. 22:42 <banana> He's dressed up, for some reason - something closer to his sunday best than to the heavy work clothes he usually wears and which would be more appropriate to a session of tomb robbing. Is Kaga really in the back? 22:43 <VoxPVoxD> Of course! He can hardly run alongside, can he? 22:44 <Crion> Aster did say something about bringing him everywhere now. 22:45 <banana> Then how does he get along with a big man in a cheap suit, who's been rubbing the bracelet at his wrist and muttering about whether it's really okay to bring you out here? 22:47 <VoxPVoxD> It probably struck Dylan as odd to see a giant black mastiff sitting straight and still on the seat beside him, stooped to keep his head from bumping the ceiling, giving the dog a gargoyle-like posture. It probably also struck Dylan as odd when the mastiff looked over at him with yellow, reptilian eyes, and intoned, "Better mad than dead as nails." 22:48 <VoxPVoxD> But by Kaga's standards he's been very well-behaved. 22:50 <Crion> Aster is either driving himself or they're all in his work van, which is the only vehicle on hand big enough to seat three and a dog comfortably. 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> The backseat of Willie's Volvo is quite roomy, but, she's not keen to drive it if the van's on offer. 22:51 <banana> ...Dylan's kept the muttering down, and tried to avoid slobber. 22:51 <banana> The route to the crypt involves travelling to Reading, first, a Berkshire town so ancient it has built-up urban infrastructure despite the low population. 22:51 <banana> "From the old abbey," explains the man crammed into one side of the back seat, "we take a sighting. T'was by moonight, but sun will do just as well." 22:51 <VoxPVoxD> Reading is the home of Willie's football club! The Biscuitmen. 22:51 <banana> "Then it's off into the moors, no trails, about twenty minutes' drive to the dolmen and a bit of a hike afterward." 22:51 <banana> The what. 22:52 <VoxPVoxD> Reading are nicknamed The Royals, due to Reading's location in the Royal County of Berkshire, though they were previously known as The Biscuitmen, due to the town's association with Huntley and Palmers. 22:53 <Crion> Aster's mainly concerned about the roads. This van has not been properly tuned or had carriage modification -- especially undercarriage modification -- for debris or offroading. It's just a normal van, which can present problems on some of Britain's decidedly un-normal roads. 22:53 <VoxPVoxD> Sadly they haven't been in the Premier League in some years now... but they're still Willie's team. You can't just change your favourite team. That's like adult religious conversion. Marriage or a near-death experience only. 22:54 <Crion> Aster has no room to criticize. Philadelphia. 22:57 <banana> Dylan: "Yeah, if it's roads you want, we shoulda stayed 'ome. Despite the regrettable state of transport funding in the Age of Ignorance, the Age which shall End. Berkshire is all farmland, green fields, but there's places between those fields which 'ave never 'ad roads in the first place." 22:58 <Crion> Aster: "I assume it made more sense to bury the alleged king out here in a previous age." 22:58 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "When would you say the Age of Ignorance began?" 23:01 <banana> The tomb grows closer, but the dictionary in the back isn't going anywhere. Aster's client's pronouncements remain somewhat incoherent. "Well, it's like.." He glances at the mastiff again. "Men of, uh, steel came into the land, right. And I guess they were elitists, technocrats. They centralised the government, all the way from London up to the North, so that would be... a long... time ago?" 23:02 <VoxPVoxD> <Parles-tu la langue Normande?> 23:03 <banana> On the way into Reading you cross a bridge over the actual Thames. Willie's nearly home, in more than one way. The abbey ruins won't be hard to find - they're right in the center of town. 23:03 <VoxPVoxD> Willie sighs. 23:03 <banana> In an atrocious accent, Dylan says "Non je me parlays franceays." 23:03 <banana> "However, I do know a guy that's really into French Twitter." 23:04 <VoxPVoxD> "Good to know, Dylan, thank you." 23:04 <Crion> Is that an effect of the torc, too? Or does one now simply 'know a guy that's really into French Twitter' these days? 23:04 <VoxPVoxD> That's just a thing now, sorry. 23:09 <VoxPVoxD> "How open is the tomb? Will we be two at a shoulder? Single file?" 23:11 <banana> The ruins of the historic abbey - apparently it was a big deal eight hundred years ago - are built right into the town, which sprawls around and even through it. There's a restored building or two and a lot of signs, as well as a tollgate if you want to get onto the actual grounds. (Dylan said you just need to get to the old exterior arch, and compare the position of the sun to the wind that 23:11 <banana> blows through it with a compass). 23:11 <banana> "The entrance is basically a cave full of heather and gorse. Just got to cut your way through it, and it won't have all grown back since were there last." 23:14 <banana> So, how are two men, a woman and a dog going to spend a couple of minutes under the ancient gate without making someone suspicious? There are bollards, so you can't drive all the way up. 23:14 <Crion> Aster: "Heather and gorse. Even the foliage sounds quaint." Nevertheless, there's a machete in the OTHER locked safe in the van, this one under the flooring carpet: the weapons locker. 23:15 <banana> https://limits.thomascastiglione.com/media/abbey-gate.jpg 23:15 <VoxPVoxD> Well, Willie's doing her part by looking like a tourist, in expensive sunglasses panning around with her phone. 23:15 <Crion> What do we have to do here? Observe a position guided by the daystar? 23:16 <Crion> That's simple enough. The person doing the observing stands in the necessary position, the other stands with him or her, and someone pretends to try and fail to operate a camera. 23:16 <banana> You've got to slight along a channel cut into the ancient stone - there's a black iron groove like a handrail which has been placed there. The wind blows one way, the sun in ~10 minutes shines along another angle, intersect them and you get the bearing to the tomb. 23:17 <Crion> Since this is the work van, Aster has a DSLR back there somewhere. 23:17 <banana> Dylan: "You need a walk, b- good.. boy?" 23:18 <Crion> Aster, to Dylan: "It doesn't like being talked to like a dog. Whether that stops you or emboldens you is up to you." 23:19 <banana> The ghoul is very happy to be out of the car for a bit. "So what... is... it." 23:19 <VoxPVoxD> Willie successfully looks anxious about messing about with the scary man's expensive, powerful camera, because she is. "What's what?" 23:19 <banana> "This is your secret weapon, like?" 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> The dog, or whatever he is, has been totally silent and doglike since we got out where people might see. 23:20 <VoxPVoxD> He looks quite plaintively up at Dylan, panting just a bit. 23:20 <Crion> Aster: "It is a very special service animal. Knowing any more than that is dangerous." He's actually not sure if it is, but explaining a demon to Dylan in public is against opsec. 23:21 <Crion> However, he's mostly consumed by trying to read the signs now. 23:21 <banana> Dylan's happy to let someone else actually take the sighting if they want it - he's just passing on third-hand lore, here. 23:22 <banana> "I did meet a dog they had on the ration once. One of the fuckers over the river. An animal that can't even consent." 23:22 <banana> "The cur seemed happy, but... it had been fed recently." 23:22 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks up from the camera sharply. "You can do that to a dog?" 23:23 <Crion> Strictly speaking, Aster is not sure if this information is more surprising than being able to do it to a demon, but he's busy. 23:23 <banana> Dylan: "Neither legally nor morally, but yeah." 23:23 <VoxPVoxD> Willie would be very surprised to learn you can blood-bind a demon. Willie herself notwithstanding. She scowls. 23:24 <banana> The ancient sighting mechanism is easy enough to use once you know the secret - particularly if you have any kind of gyroscope and a way to record the bearing. 23:25 <VoxPVoxD> Luckily the camera is very complicated, so she doesnt' do more than that. 23:25 <Crion> Then this takes almost no time at all, which is good. 23:27 <banana> You've got the direction. Dylan points out marks burned into the millenium-old stone: "Some kind of code the bosses learned. It means 'seven miles and under'. So we orient ourselves that way-" northwest-ish. Closer to north by northwest- "and in the old days I guess you'd get out the pack horses." 23:29 <banana> This is kind of fun. Being the group's leader for once. 23:29 <Crion> Aster: "And I assume they never made an actual map for security reasons?" 23:30 <banana> "Boss Craig brought a Mekhet friend. They don't forget anything." 23:30 <Crion> Interesting. 23:32 <VoxPVoxD> Willie takes directions quite well, for such a posh lady. Maybe she's just scared of the old guy. "Well, I've got my Moors Boots on. At the ready." 23:33 <Crion> Back in the van, Aster is on the computer (with the satellite uplink dutifully up on the roof) plotting out their course. He wants to do as much of this on road as possible before walking. 23:35 <banana> It's 2021, rather than 1121, so most of the route is semirural at most. The green fields of England in the Home Counties, with the roads separated by hedgerows. As you work your way north, the altitude rises, and the farms do start to drop away - there's a patch of deeply wooded hills which were once the common of some defunct manorial village. 23:36 <banana> Forests in turn drop away, replaced by high rocky land. At least, high compared to the Thames valley. Following the bearing for about ten kilometres takes you to a barely navigable forest on the edge of Buckinghamshire, in the Chiltern Hundreds. You're going to have to walk the rest of the way... or buy new tires. 23:37 <banana> Dylan: "Yeah, we came up more or less this way... but it was dark. Moonless night. I was following the torches, to be honest with you." 23:37 <Crion> In America all sorts of horror films have been made out of urban professionals making the trip out into the unlettered forests. Perhaps the relationship between the fields and cities in Britain -- one of direct, landed subserviance -- has led to a different cultural relationship here. Either way he doesn't recall many Hills Have Eyes scenarios coming from the Brits. 23:38 <banana> "Following a false guiding light into the so-called dark places of the world, illuminating things which to know is to destroy, like." 23:38 <VoxPVoxD> Oh no, not here. The south of England is the most peaceful place on Earth. 23:38 <Crion> Aster gives him a look, and goes to get the dictionary (wrapped in multiple cautionary tarps or leathers). 23:39 <banana> The book feels a little heavier in his hands than when he first bought it. 23:39 <VoxPVoxD> Give or take the centuries of warfare, reactionary sentiment, etc. But that's the vibe. "Right, yeah, like parchment that falls to dust when you touch it." 23:41 <banana> Dylan, a little confused: "Yeah, knowledge that... yeah. So, you need to make sure we've got the exact right bearing from the abbey gate.. have you got GPS out here?" 23:41 <Crion> 23:41 <banana> "The dolmen is basically buried all the way, just little bits of round rock down in the underbrush. We need to be on top of it to find it, but it's right at the seven mile mark." 23:41 <VoxPVoxD> Willie checks her phone. Do we? 23:41 <Crion> Aster frowns. Would he have an opinion over how heavy it was when he first bought it? Would he remember that? Is that the book talking? 23:43 <banana> If Willie's kept track, you're less than 15 kilometres from Oxford. Three bars at worst. 23:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yeah, reception is fine. No weird dead zones." 23:44 <banana> This moorish borderland between patches of forest is old for sure, and still a little wild... but just a little. 23:44 <VoxPVoxD> You get those sometimes around magical places. 23:45 <Crion> It's been awhile since Aster's been on a hike. He's a runner by discipline so the exertion isn't difficult, obviously, but these boots are much less comfortable than his running shoes. 23:47 <banana> Dylan is very fit, despite having the start of a beer belly. He'll kick little grey rocks out of the path with a mindless fervour, and after a while he starts throwing them to see whether Kaga is interested. 23:47 <banana> "...I'd miss this." 23:47 <VoxPVoxD> Once the bad air of undead dog slaves has been left behind, Willie's doing great. Fresh air, exercise, the outdoors... it's like an oasis of stuff she hasn't gotten since moving. "What a lovely day! Up north it feels like winter, but down here... I have got to get out more." 23:47 <banana> Dylan: "Yeah. Being out in the day is... nice." 23:48 <VoxPVoxD> Kaga is vehemently not interested... but he cannot bring himself to refuse, out of geas or atavism or what. So he chases things that are thrown and, when appropriate, brings them back. 23:48 <VoxPVoxD> He's been ordered not to say anything mean to Dylan. 23:49 <Crion> Aster finds forcing the demon to pretend to be a dog distinctly offputting, but has no inclination to tell Willie what to do with her bound creation. It isn't like the demon cares to endear itself to Aster either, so. 23:51 <banana> It's not too long before you reach the point you've marked on your map. A few more minutes scratching around the heather and the 'dolmen' reveals itself: three irregular caps of stone, barely poking above the earth, which speak of hidden things beneath it. None of this feels much like a pilgrimage to the tomb of the last of the Normans. 23:52 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I grew up not far from here. 20 kilometers south, give or take." 23:52 <banana> Dylan: "The stones are in a triangle, and we draw a line from this one between the other two... there." He points at a bushy hillside covered in dying yellow flowers. 23:52 <banana> "Really, M- Willie? It's a hell of a nice place." 23:53 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It really is. This time of year, when the morning is misty and cold and the sun wipes it all away... you can't beat it." 23:54 <Crion> Aster is mostly silent. 23:55 <banana> Willie spots the cave before Dylan points it out. Actually, she spots the superstructure around it- this was a building, once, or at least a facade. Stone buried in the squarish earth. 23:56 <VoxPVoxD> "There, is that it?" 23:56 <banana> There are shapes under the flowers on either side of the entrance which have the rough proportions of statues. 23:56 <banana> Dylan: "Looks very different in the sunlight." 23:57 <Crion> Aster puts down his pack and gets the sheathed machete out in case they have to do some cutting. 23:57 <VoxPVoxD> Willie smiles a bit. 23:57 <VoxPVoxD> Pennsylvania Jones. 23:58 <banana> He hesitates, then continues slowly, as if the words are dragged from him: "It makes me think about daylight savings, you know? We consider it progressive because it's an engineering application, bending time itself to the needs of industry. But what's so progressive about, about making everyone shift around their clocks just to cater to guys on teleconferences?" 23:58 <banana> Cutting IS indicated here, and Dylan's preoccupied. 23:58 <Crion> Aster: "Have to say that I agree with you there." 23:59 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I don't like waking up while it's still dark. But I don't particularly care what the clock says when I do it." 23:59 <banana> Hacking away at the gorse, Aster can feel the weight shift on his back. It's not that the book is heavy per se - that was his impression before he realised what's going on, but the effect has become stronger. It's sloshing. 00:00 <Crion> He will firmly leave his pack near the entrance, then. 00:01 <banana> Dylan: "No offence intended, Willie, but that's privilege. The privilege to assign hours to your comings and goings is also the privilege to deny Fate - to assert that the change you've stamped on the world will be permanent, a bulwark of light forever against darkness as if memory is less than infinite." 00:01 <banana> "The fuck am I even saying?" 00:01 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "No, you're right. You're totally right. The thing is, a thousand years ago, I would've also had the privilege to set your comings and goings as well." 00:04 <Crion> Aster: "Don't touch the book in this pack. It's bursting with little grey men." 00:05 <Crion> "If we feel comfortable taking it in to see what happens, we'll do that. But not yet." 00:06 <banana> The bag... doesn't want to be put down. But it's just a bag, so it doesn't get a say. 00:07 <Crion> Not good. 00:07 <Crion> Aster: "In fact, do not touch the bag at all. The grey men will try to compel you to take it inside." 00:08 <banana> Stephen Bowen did pawn it off on you with warnings and good cheer. 00:08 <banana> Dylan, gloomy: "Sure. Comings and goings all round." 00:08 <Crion> Aster went into this with eyes open. Bowen was clear about what he's doing. 00:09 <banana> The cave-cum-atrium has a little space with worn busts and faces carved into the walls, then a tunnel with the remnants of stairs. More like a ramp by now. 00:13 <banana> Dylan: "Want to go in then? There's a sort of catacomb with skulls and an altar at the bottom, then another ramp back the way we came, under the dolmen. Then the blocked tunnels. Not much to it..." 00:14 <Crion> Aster is staring at something. 00:14 <Crion> "...Hmm?" He finally turns to acknowledge Dylan. 00:14 <banana> Dylan: "Just the one room then the crossroads, really. Unless the dog can dig real good." 00:15 <Crion> Aster: "Right. Yes. Let's proceed. Tell me, Dylan, do you know anything of the Court's registrar?" 00:16 <Crion> "The vampire that calls himself Henry I. Ever met him?" 00:17 <banana> Dylan crams himself to one side of the 'atrium' so that Aster or Willie can go past him. He's not used to bringing up the front. "Ah... yeah, I had to be put on a list, like. There's a whole process to go on the ration. You're Introduced to a councillor, capital I, and you sign this stuff." 00:18 <banana> "I do remember that guy, because he had a fantastic beard. Hair out to the sides, just the right kind of moustache - he'd have fit right in at the clubhouse." 00:19 <Crion> He gestures to one of the faces carved into the wall, the one opposite Matilda of Scotland, the one that allegedly represents the buried king-- "Does this remind you of anyone?" 00:21 <VoxPVoxD> Willie concentrates. 00:21 <banana> Dylan: "Sure, that could be the guy. It'd make sense, right? Some of the bosses are... well, no, they're not that old. Huh." 00:22 <banana> Willie can see the resemblance too. It looks more like the Wise & Solemn Court's 'Henry I' than it does conventional portraits of Henry Beauclerc. 00:22 <VoxPVoxD> "That's funny." 00:23 <banana> The carthian Registrar is blond, for one, and healthier-looking (apart from being undead). More 'viking' than dissipated-noble. 00:23 <Crion> "Unsure if that's the word I'd use," Aster murmurs. There are a number of explanations for this. 00:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Did he come off particularly unmodern? I suppose you don't hang out with him." 00:23 <banana> Dylan: "Seemed like just one of the, the Kindred. Talked normal. I thought the name was a joke or something." 00:24 <VoxPVoxD> "It may yet be. But at whose expense, we don't know." 00:25 <Crion> The most plausible one, considering the alternatives, is that this is a trickster tomb, generating meaning out of the heads of the people who walk through its doors, and it happened to grab the memory of the more recent Henry I when trying to develop a face-carving than any number of tapestries and reliefs. 00:25 <Crion> The other alternatives, of course, are that this tomb is an elaborate prank, or Henry I is Henry I. 00:26 <banana> It's extremely unclear to Dylan what this means for his twice-curs'd status. 00:27 <Crion> Aster: "Let's proceed, but everyone be on your guard. Especially for the too-familiar." 00:27 <Crion> Aster: "Let's proceed, but everyone be on your guard. Especially for the too-familiar." 00:27 <VoxPVoxD> "How does it feel to be back, Dylan?" 00:27 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you feel unusual or particularly emotional?" 00:28 <banana> "Not different, really." 00:28 <banana> Two or three of you can go down the ramp together, although it gets tight with Kaga in the space as well. 00:29 <Crion> Aster will take the lead, then, with Dylan on his shoulder behind him. 00:29 <VoxPVoxD> Willie can bring up the rear with her stalwart companion. 00:29 <banana> What kind of light source are you using? What ever it is, it reveals a largely-intact room at the end of the buried stairs - rectangular, much wider than it is long. There are slots in the walls filled with bones, and in one corner the walls have been burst apart by the roots of a dead tree. 00:30 <banana> At the far end of that room (turn right, walk along it, turn right again) is another ramp leading back and further underground. Past the ramp, a crude but recognisably Christian altar in an alcove. 00:30 <Crion> Aster's got a maglite for walking around with and a battery-powered room floodlight he clipped to the outside of his pack. 00:31 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's got the light on her phone and a not-incredibly-effective battery-powered torch. But it does have fresh batteries, at least. 00:32 <Crion> He'll set up the tiny flood where it seems best, though he'll likely have to move it around due to the shadows it causes. Ideally you'd have multiples, but. 00:33 <VoxPVoxD> Obviously Willie needs to buy her own expedition gear if she's going to be going on adventures like this with Aaron. 00:35 <banana> You could poke around the skulls and bones in the ancient racks, or behind the altar alcove (it's low, so a lot of crap has washed into there over the years). Other than that, the ramp further down seems like the only thing of interest. 00:39 <Crion> Well, let's see here. 00:39 <banana> Dylan: "I still don't feel any odder than up above. I mean yeah, there's a calling to greater things, a purpose beyonnnghh sorry, sorry." 00:42 <banana> "We didn't stop much in this room. Really it's the only 'room', the rest is just tunnels. 00:42 <banana> " 00:43 <Crion> Aster begins walking around the room in a circuit, almost ritually, ignoring Dylan after a request for him to stay put (not to stay silent; he's not going to make a request the man can't comply with). He stops at intervals. After four or five loops: "Hmm. This will be quite difficult. Possibly impossible." 00:43 <Crion> "I will say one thing for this tomb: It legitimately is very very old." 00:43 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "What's wrong?" 00:43 <VoxPVoxD> "So it's like... the evidence has degraded?" 00:43 <Crion> "The Postcognition module is indicating that, yes." 00:44 <banana> Was there an incident here, a deed a crime? The mouldering and fossilized bones say yes. But it's moved beyond evidence and into history. 00:44 <Crion> "Now, the Postcognition module is only certified out to a year. So I expected that. Part of the exercise was trying to figure out if this wasn't a bill of goods that we'd been sold." 00:44 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "But surely there must be something. You can feel the spiritual energy in here. It's enormous." 00:44 <VoxPVoxD> "It's like... atmospheric pressure." 00:45 <Crion> Aster frowns. "I can?" 00:45 <Crion> "You can?" 00:45 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Yes. It smells like rain." 00:45 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you not?" 00:47 <Crion> "Not in those terms." 00:48 <banana> Dylan: "..." He's hanging out in the lower ramp entrance, watching, occasionally scratching the dog behind its ruff. 00:49 <VoxPVoxD> The dog seems amenable to this. 00:50 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It's like..." She gestures vaguely. What is it like? 00:53 <VoxPVoxD> It's not actually atmospheric at all, is it? It's not weighing down on her from above. It's a deep, bassy feeling. It thrums in her sternum. It nibbles at her heels. It's getting a bit warmer. 00:53 <banana> It's like the only child a copy of a copy of a copy-- but the noise is so faint. 00:53 <VoxPVoxD> She focuses, trying to pull apart the experiential notes. She sinks to her knees, as if being closer to the earth will make it easier to hear. 00:55 <VoxPVoxD> She shines ever-so-slightly in the dark, veins glowing gently orange beneath her skin like a frog swallowed a floodlight. 00:55 <banana> Dylan: "You're both like me. On a ration, touched by the Underground. No wonder Jag went down and wouldn't talk about it." 00:56 <VoxPVoxD> Then she's sinking rapidly, or something is crawling up her legs. To the objective eye, she doesn't move, but the sensation is intense. She's being swallowed up. Hell rises to meet her. 00:57 <VoxPVoxD> Willie draws in a glass-sharp breath and exhales steam. "Breathe. Breathe. Breathe." 00:57 <VoxPVoxD> The dog whines. 00:58 <banana> The artificial light is very bright and the air is very cold. Willie feels a warmth inside her, emits it, counteracting the chill. (Aaron Aster and Dylan Pritchard are just cold, with little recourse.) 00:59 <banana> Touched by the underground? It feels like it could. Something down there is very close to the surface. 00:59 <banana> Sins no longer old. 00:59 <Crion> Aster narrows his eyes. 01:00 <Crion> Never heard the demon dog whine before. 01:05 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks up at Aaron with glowing eyes. She's still kneeling. "What does the module say now?" 01:06 <Crion> He checks the signal. 01:06 <banana> Still a lot of static, but there's meaning in the hiss. It's an old crime, but one you could unwisely touch. 01:12 <banana> Oh, yes. This is so unwise. 01:13 <Crion> This is scientific inquiry down a new vector. 01:13 <Crion> Aster steps mentally into Hell. 01:16 <banana> You were the last and now so is he. The son of William the Bastard, sent home on his shield and borne to the crypt on bandages. Even in death the House of Bastards continues their persecution, know-nothing priests mumbling and weeping to apply this the final seal. 01:17 <banana> You are an empty passage. You are a meaningless howl on the wind. A true queen of secrets and nothing, buried under the weight of a true king's corpse. 01:18 <Crion> Aster can feel the wounds. 01:18 <banana> Your bones crushed, scattered through the hills, passages to a world that no longer was. Henry's body wrapped, mummified, curled on the bare stony earth that will not take a spade. 01:19 <banana> What is Britain without a Briton? The lost legacies you bore in secret now dead and gone. Irony that's impossible to appreciate. The line of Arturus was the seal, and now is sealed in turn. 01:20 <banana> There's a kind of peace to it. This is just another layer. Soil over rock over soil; an unbroken neohistory. You're dead, and he's dead, and those that came before you are dead, and you killed them. 01:20 <banana> And then. 01:21 <banana> By the Grail and the Lares and the fucking Fomor, the Bastard cheats. 01:22 <banana> As his soul sinks into the earth and burns away and crushes forever your Britain beneath his Britain and the Britain of old that your forebears stole is now dust, and the last priests steal into the night, and the wind HOWLS, you howl as Henry fumbles to undo the wraps around his chest. 01:23 <banana> Dead, dead and nothing three generations before, and that makes one of you. 01:23 <banana> In fury you reach out and rattle the earth. Towers collapse. Rivers shift in their courses. 01:23 <banana> The stones roll and block your path. You come together wearing rage as a girdle and still you are nothing. 01:24 <banana> The dead king leaves, forever. He leaves you already nothing. 01:29 <Crion> Did Henry end this vision dead or undead? 01:29 <banana> Vampiric. 01:29 <banana> Aster may be dead; he's either leaning on the wall or has been piled up against it by some sort of great wind. Willie lost track of time for a bit there. She's not sure where Dylan went. But she can feel this: the inhabitant of the place beneath this tomb, with whom he possibly communes, is close. Physically close, not spiritually; beneath you but not far. 01:29 <Crion> Did this vision's Henry look like the Manchester night's? 01:30 <banana> Yes. Once he got the wraps off his face. 01:31 <Crion> What sort of 'priests?' Christians, or some sort of druidic, or impossible to tell? 01:31 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "There's a presence beneath us. Not far beneath us. Whosoever claims this place is all but here." 01:31 <banana> Benedictines. 01:32 <banana> The ghost-who-died-again knew who they were, and she held them in secret contempt. 01:33 <VoxPVoxD> Willie calls for Dylan. "Dylan?" 01:34 <banana> There's a yawning moment and then an answering call from above- somewhere up the ramp, which is dark although it should lead to daylight and solace. 01:34 <banana> "Yeah, here-" His voice echoes but doesn't come closer. 01:35 <Crion> Out in the real world, which Aster can still feel some tether to, it feels like gallons of blood are running down the front of his shirt. Thankfully he dressed cheap. Anyhow. How old is the secret queen, relative to this vision? Matilda, or the Lady in the Lake? 01:36 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "As long as you're up there and weren't pulled deeper." 01:36 <banana> Eighty-three. 01:37 <banana> Dylan's voice is a little hoarse. "It wants me. They both want me, but up here I'm protected. You should come up, Lady Willie. It's too dark." 01:37 <VoxPVoxD> "I can't leave Aaron." 01:38 <VoxPVoxD> She pulls herself to her feet. She's not going to touch him, but, she's going to catch him if he collapses. 01:40 <Crion> Was the Henry who was buried here of Arthur's line or William's? 01:40 <banana> William. The Bastard's legitimate issue. 01:40 <Crion> Was the ghost of Arthur's line? 01:40 <banana> Yes. A great secret. 01:41 <Crion> Was the torc present at all in this vision? 01:42 <banana> ....yes. Yes, he sees it now - in the world that no longer was. She drew up her arms, but had none, and drew up the arms of her forefathers, and clothed herself in rage and signs - pagan jewellery. It scattered and was crushed beneath the convulsing earth. 01:43 <Crion> Does the ghost remember her name? 01:43 <banana> No. They called her Cristina Ætheling, but her true name was a secret, lost to the seals. 01:44 <banana> She was the last true queen of England. And Henry was the last true king after her, and Arturus the last true king before, and on. 01:44 <banana> The vision is growing clearer and clearer in Aster's mind. The answers come easily now. 01:46 <banana> Is he really interpreting evidence? Or is he just asking questions? 01:46 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Aaron. Aaron. We've got to go now. Aaron." 01:47 <Crion> What would bring the secret queen peace? 01:47 <VoxPVoxD> If the scraping gets much louder she will touch him. 01:47 <banana> Revenge. 01:47 <Crion> Aster convulses, bends over, and vomits blood onto the floor. 01:47 <VoxPVoxD> Willie reaches out to grab his arm and pull. 01:47 <VoxPVoxD> Shit! 01:47 <Crion> Aster: "Fuck." 01:47 <Crion> "Where are--" 01:48 <VoxPVoxD> She'll get under him, let him drip blood on her coat, whatever. Just to get out of here as fast as possible. 01:48 <Crion> He will allow himself to be pulled. 01:51 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's not terribly strong, but she doesn't need to support his weight, just keep him steady as they attempt to leave the tomb and get back up into the daylight. 01:51 <banana> There's a moment of paradoxical darkness as you head toward the surface, away from the floodlight in the catacomb antechamber where the king was not-buried. Sunlight makes itself known almost immediately, overwhelming the torches. 01:52 <banana> Dylan's at the cave-facade entrance, crouched over Aster's pack protectively. It's closed, just as he left it, but the faces on the walls are obscured with thickly spray-painted graffiti. Grinning Roswell-alien faces, little grey men in conga-line sequences. 01:52 <Crion> Aster, thickly: "Fantastic." 01:52 <banana> He says, "Ah fuck, I'm glad you've got out of there. We have to build a spaceport in Scotland." 01:53 <Crion> Aster: "Did you open the fucking pack, Dylan?" 01:53 <Crion> Dimly he's aware of what a sight he is, blood pouring out of most of the holes on his face. 01:53 <banana> "There's this peninsula at ninety degrees north, perfect for a polar orbit. Space hub. It would be great for everything except geostationary, and who cares about satellites, right? The point is to get people up there, to explore, to settle. To go boldly!" 01:54 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Aaron, you've lost a lot of blood. How's your vision? Your balance? Are you nauseous?" 01:54 <banana> Aster's pack is shut, but maybe with the catalyst so close it didn't matter. 01:54 <Crion> Aster: "I'm fine." 01:54 <Crion> He can, at least, stand. 01:55 <VoxPVoxD> Willie holds onto him until he shakes her off, then she looks back into the darkness. "Good. Stay here. I need to.. I can't leave it open." 01:56 <VoxPVoxD> She ventures down until she can feel the rift she opened strongly enough to force it shut. 01:56 <Crion> Aster: "Yes, that would be smart." 01:56 <Crion> Meanwhile, Aster is contemplating trying to Talon module that damn book. 01:57 <banana> The antechamber is still lit, though there's that patch of the ramp where you can no longer see daylight, so it's like passing through a veil to reach it. There's movement down there, by the altar, something in the air. Glints of metal. 01:57 <Crion> Has the pack's load lightened a bit, at least? He still has to carry this thing back. 01:57 <banana> Willie can feel it; the hole to Hell, and the dead thing standing in that gate. 01:58 <banana> The pack's still sloshing about, as if the book were a container of liquid. 01:59 <VoxPVoxD> Willie squeezes it, the way she wrings the fire from her blood, the way she pulls the collar over the demon's head. All the worry and fear bleeds into the palm of her hand, leaving cold command. The gate is hers to open. The gate is hers to close. 02:01 <VoxPVoxD> Whatever came up from the deep has a few moments to make itself known to her, but unless it can strike her dead in an instant that's all they get. 02:02 <banana> Something at the end of the room past the blinding floodlight moves- there's the suggestion of a form in the air, robes, a face. Then it's gone, with a ringing clatter. 02:02 <banana> From nothing to nothing. 02:02 <VoxPVoxD> Willie exhales. She can see her breath in the chill. "Holy hell." 02:03 <VoxPVoxD> "All clear!" she calls up. 02:04 <Crion> Aster, already descending: "Let's collect our things and go. We can talk on the way back. We need to get that book away from here. It's leaking." 02:04 <banana> Dylan, behind him: "...I think we made it angry. Not the book." 02:04 <VoxPVoxD> Willie's happy to get going. "Yeah. Yeah." 02:07 <Crion> To Dylan: "Your judgment is compromised." 02:07 <Crion> To Dylan: "Your judgment is compromised." 02:08 <banana> "That's why I need your help, man." 02:08 <Crion> Once he's gathered the lights and etc, Aster's ready to start the hike back. He's got a change of shirt there. This isn't the first time explosive blood has occured during a module. 02:09 <Crion> He will relate to Willie the vision in detail, of how Henry I was Embraced and how angry it made the queen who rejected her name. 02:10 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "And now she seeks revenge on the entirety of post-Saxon English governance." 02:13 <Crion> Aster grimaces. "One sympathizes." 02:14 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The line of Arturus... you don't suppose Caliburn is rusting down there." 02:15 <Crion> Aster: "Seems a bit low security. And something the Benedictine monks would have been interested in snatching. Unless it's been set again in the requisite stone." 02:16 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "So we have some sense of the origin of the curse... but we're scarcely closer to figuring out how to *lift* it." 02:16 <VoxPVoxD> "Maybe we could re-establish Camelot." 02:16 <VoxPVoxD> To Dylan: "In space." 02:18 <Crion> Aster: "The moment we get to the moon they'll be wanting Mars. There's no living with them." 02:18 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "The Normans agreed with you." 02:19 <Crion> Aster: "Well. We gained a significant amount of context. We're still light on actionable intelligence, though, and the semiotic virus might have gotten loose again." 02:19 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you think it's worth interviewing Henry directly? Who knows what he'll remember. Long hibernation is apparently very bad for vampires' minds." 02:20 <Crion> Aster: "He remembers enough to keep the name either as an ironic joke or a very serious statement. It might be interesting, but I don't know about useful." 02:21 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Dylan had the presence of mind to run up instead of down, resisting the lure of the torc. An excellent guide, I must say." 02:22 <VoxPVoxD> Kagemenauch: "Adequate." 02:22 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Does it... does it always hurt so much?" 02:22 <VoxPVoxD> "Your module?" 02:23 <Crion> Aster: "That was among the more excessive side-effects. But then, the module is only rated for use up to one year back." 02:23 <Crion> "I went some nine hundred." 02:24 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "You seemed quite overcome, and it sounds like it was very vivid." 02:24 <VoxPVoxD> "Quite a powerful module." 02:25 <Crion> Aster: "The costs are commensurate with the rewards. Though I doubt any history books will be rewritten over this." 02:26 <Crion> Aster: "What was that thing you were doing back there? With your eyes." 02:26 <Crion> "I was able to pick up the frequency after that." 02:27 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "I... don't know. I don't know what came over me. But I felt this pull. And I pulled on it... and it was like something unraveled. You know how when you're in bed and you're suddenly feel like you're falling, even though you're totally still? A bit like that." 02:28 <VoxPVoxD> "But there was a reaction. It roused whatever sleeping remains of Cristina lay below. Perhaps that wiped some of the dust away and let your instruments work." 02:28 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Perhaps you saw the past through the prism of Hell." 02:29 <Crion> Aster: "That might explain the heavily emotional tinge of the Postcognition. Usually it isn't so overwhelming." 02:29 <Crion> "But no, that ghost certainly wants revenge." 02:31 <VoxPVoxD> Willie looks a bit guilty. "Are you okay to drive?" 02:33 <Crion> Aster, now that they've reached the van: "Of course. ...Have you ever driven something this size?" 02:34 <VoxPVoxD> Willie admits: "No, I haven't." 02:35 <Crion> Aster: "Then I'll get us back to the main roads, and maybe then if I'm fading, you can take over." 02:36 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "Okay." 02:37 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you think this was a success?" 02:38 <Crion> Aster: "If I hadn't been foolish enough to bring the book, it would have been an unqualified success. I think that thing's basically useless as a translation aid now." 02:38 <VoxPVoxD> Willie seems heartened by that. "Hopefully no one comes back with another dictionary." 02:41 <Crion> Aster shakes his head. "Hopefully no one goes back there for quite some time and they all get bored, or dormant, or what have you." 02:41 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "...I didn't know that was going to happen. I didn't know it could. That is not within the bounds of what they teach in Milan." 02:44 <Crion> Aster: "Fieldwork is always a sloppier, more dangerous and less defined thing than we're taught in the classroom. No reason that shouldn't be the same for Hell, or the Process." 02:45 <Crion> "It is interesting that Hell and the Process can synergize like that, however." 02:45 <VoxPVoxD> Willie: "It is. A friend of mine for university is looking for some samples of ectoplasm. If I can... do what I did down there, it shouldn't be too hard to find some." 02:45 <VoxPVoxD> "Perhaps you'd like to come." 02:46 <Crion> Aster: "Certainly. If I can find the time in between all the work." 02:49 <VoxPVoxD> "I know Bob'll be interested. Perhaps I should ask Rolf and Agostina." 02:52 <Crion> Aster snorts. "Do that and they'll be asking where your friend's million pounds is." 02:53 <VoxPVoxD> Willie sighs. "You're right." 02:53 <VoxPVoxD> "Still, it's a bit unsporting not to give them the opportunity to call me an idiot to my face, yeah?" 02:54 <Crion> Aster: "True. And sometimes that's all you can ask for." 02:54 <Crion> To Aster's questionable credit, it takes another ninety minutes before he pulls over and lets Willie drive.