With one chandelier rescued and the shoggoths thinned even further, the four remaining rooms in the nest can basically be solved the same way.

It will be a slog, but now the challenge is simply executing the solution again and again.

The next room is taller than it is wide with a spiraling fractal structure growing from the center. At the ends of the fractal branches are pungent fruit-like globules, and nestled in the branches are numerous large dark dish-like structures like the alter from the first room, each 30 feet in diameter. The chandelier is obscured from the entrance, but accessible from the middle of the tree-like spiral structure, and even more accessible by paper bird.

Space warps weirdly at the edges of the branches, hyperbolically overlapping following the branches. When Phoenix coaxes this Chandelier to shrink the space, the space unfolds like moving lenses refracting sight lines in incomprehensible ways.

This chandelier is a woman, and more resources have to be tapped to find her information, but it is findable: Janice Lake, a student from Hall School (an all-girls college that was Miskatonic University’s sister school and later integrated into Miskatonic when it became co-ed), who went missing around the same time as Kenneth Dyer.

The next room is a riot of colors and scents and organisms. Portions of the mazelike structure are lit brightly in bioluminescent fire hanging from the ceiling like glow worm strands or radiating up from pungent chemical pools. Plants and small animals both earthly and entirely unearthly populate the area like a safari park.

This chandelier is Richard Dyer, a cousin of Kenneth's who had disappeared shortly after inheriting the estate from his presumed-dead cousin.

The fourth room is a series of closed chambers. Navigating it is like climbing through bubbles in a fleshy foam of valve doors. At each node more rooms branch off than could possibly fit in the physical space around the room. Aspen enters the shoggoth room this time to assist with mapping towards the chandelier. At times, the party needs to crawl through the venous servant passages to navigate to the center.

The dreamer in this room bears no relation to Kenneth Dyer, and so takes a while to identify Lewis Stevenson.

The fifth and last room’s outside is smaller than the others. When Saint kicks the entrance open, the reason why it is smaller is revealed: it is under construction. Tiny shoggoths tend to clutches of eggs and nurture new membranes of flesh growing on thin structural bones. This room’s architecture lacks the artistry of the previous rooms, its mottled mucosal walls are washed with sickly yellow luminescence, and the hearts and lungs of the room are not yet hidden away.

The shoggoths in sight of the door stop their tasks and scramble to clot the opening Saint made with their bodies and chunks of fleshy building material.

Combat start!

Initiative Order:
Eustace: :black_joker: Joker! Act whenever you want in the round! Also add +2 to all Trait and damage rolls this round!
Hope: Queen ♥︎
Saint: Jack ♥︎
Vesper: 7 ♥︎
~~Alric: 6 ♥︎~~
Phoenix: 6 ♣︎
Scratch: 5 ♦︎
AlricTheHesitant: 4 ♥︎
Ellie: 4 ♣︎
shoggothSwarm: 2 ♠︎

Like he had for the past few rooms, Eustace had armed his firebomb before Saint opened the door, so he is ready to use it as soon as he sees the swarming interior.

“Fire in the hole!” He yells as he hurls the bomb as deep as he can into the nest.

Athletics roll to throw the bomb into the nest: [3, 1]+2 Result: Success! 🎯

Damage from firebomb (3d6 + 2) results: 5, 1, 3 total: 11

Eustace triggers the bomb once it arcs past the swarm building its defensive wall, spraying the far side in fire.

The entire room convulses, shaking the dirt around it and threatening a cave in of the tunnel Aspen excavated to reach the hive room.

Aspen paints more knotwork traceries onto the walls of her tunnel, and only a small amount of dirt is able to fall through the gaps in the plaster lines.

What does Hope do?

Hope will fire on the swarm!

Shot 1: [2, 4] Result: Success! 🎯

undefined (2d6 + 1) results: 6, 6 total: 13

Explosions (2d6) results: 6, 4 total: 10

Explosion! (1d6) results: 2 total: 2

total = 25

The Shoggoths were just beginning to band together into a swarm superorganism that might have had a chance of threatening the party, but Hope’s shot through the center of their swarm sends them back scattering and directionless. The shot continues on, piercing through the swarm and into one of the room’s exposed hearts, puncturing it. Through the half -assembled barricade and frenzied shoggoths and fire, the party can see the dishwasher-sized alien organ spraying blood with each spasming beat. The whole room shudders again, trying in vain to close the door Saint holds open.

Hope, you can take your second shot.

Alric shouts out. "Guys, the room is taking too much damage, and there's still someone connected to it. Let's avoid further damage to it until we're sure it won't hurt them as well."

Into a shoggoth: [1, 5] Result: Success! 🎯

undefined (2d6 + 1) results: 4, 1 total: 6

Hope’s second shot hits only a non-vital chitinous fan on one of the shoggoths, spooking it into hunkering down, but not killing it.

Saint, your turn

"Phoenix, I'll take point on protecting the captive if you can hold the line," he doesn't wait for an answer before he starts to move, already certain of Phoenix's response. Saint cracks his neck and rolls his shoulders, giving the doorway another solid kick as he jumps up to catch the doorway and start climbing up the fleshy wall.

athletics!: [3, 6 💥 3 = 9] Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

The rest of the group loses sight of Saint as he climbs up into the smoke filled room—leaving bleeding gouges on the walls from his claws— and leaps the ten meters from the wall to the chandelier, sending it swinging and straining the umbilical cord tethering it to the ceiling.

The smoke is thick from the roasting shoggoth flesh up here, but the captive’s blood is oxygenated through the umbilical cord, and Stone doesn’t need breath.

Vesper, what do you do?

I wait for Alric

Vesper holds

Phoenix’s turn

Phoenix plants herself in the doorway in a ready stance, watching the shoggoth swarm for any hint that they might try to move towards her team. Phoenix Defends for +4 parry

Scratch’s turn

The boy adjusts his mask and his grip on his spear. He keeps glancing over at Aspen as she paints more lines of plaster on the tunnels, as though he is looking for direction on what he should be doing, or checking that she’s not going to reprimand him. He Holds, waiting for shoggoths to get closer before trying to stab them.

Alric’s turn

Obviously, this room is recent. If Aspen did her job correctly, it's at least two days old. But: Shoggoths can summon pretty much any flesh structure in no time, and the room is still under construction. It probably hasn't been a long time since this person got caught, probably before or on Saturday, but not a whole lot before that.

He's giving it about 60% that it's Cassidy. He'd have expected her to be with the rest of her friends today, she isn't, and taking a few steps into the lot to retrieve a lost item or something is exactly the dumb thing he'd expect college kids to do.

don't be the pepperspray girl don't be the pepperspray girl

He'll start his turn by peeking into the room to see who it is, and what the state of things are: How bad of a shape is the room in, and how far has the captive progressed?

Peeking into the room: [5, 6 💥 4 = 10] Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

The room is 20 meters diameter. 8 of those meters by the door are covered in fire. One heart is visible—shot by Hope and spurting ichor—and there are other organ-like spots spaced out along the walls. It’s just barely possible by crouching down close to the ground and peering up through the fire and smoke to get an angle to see Saint jump from high on the wall down onto the chandelier and sheath it in black marble.

Alric sees Saint leap into the room and onto the chandelier.

Again, absolutely NOT what I had in mind.

Between the close-quarter gun shots still ringing in his ears and the fact that now one of their team members is in the room, Alric opts to shout [intending to make it sound like a strong suggestion, not like an order]. "THE ROOM IS THE LIFE SUPPORT OF THE CAPTIVE. WE CAN'T AFFORD TO DO ANY DAMAGE TO IT. LET'S RETREAT, HAVE THE SHOGGOTHS PATCH UP THE DAMAGE, THEN LURE THEM INTO AN AMBUSH OUT HERE."

He'll take several steps back to make space for people to retreat.

That's Alric's turn.

I glance uncertainly between Alric and Saint. "But he's already on the ceiling, we can't leave now. Just avoid hitting any of the organs."

Ellie's turn

Ellie siiiighs, bouncing on her heels, full of energy and clearly wanting to hunt, but holds her action - if a shoggoth gets in whip range she'll act as the offensive backup to Phoenix's full defense.

The shoggoths' turn

The shoggoths scramble to spew foam on the fire and barricade their end of the short entrance hallway. -6 cover penalty for shooting through the barricade

The room itself convulses and tries to close the passageway Saint had forced open. It vents smoke into the tunnels circling it.

Round 2

Initiative Order:
Scratch: King ♠︎
Saint: King ♥︎
AlricSecondGuess: Queen ♣︎
Eustace: Jack ♥︎
shoggothSwarm: 9 ♠︎
Ellie: 9 ♦︎
AlricFirstGuess: 7 ♦︎
Hope: 4 ♠︎
Phoenix: 3 ♥︎
Vesper: 3 ♦︎

Phoenix answers Alric. "Agreed, lets retreat out of the smoke. Saint can handle himself for at least a few moments."

Scratch leads the retreat, slipping back down the tunnel to the manor basement.

Saint's turn

"I'm backup life support," Saint calls back, having heard Alric yell. "Room's already burning and bleeding. Do what you need to!"

That done and with one hand gripping the cord to keep as much of his weight off the chandelier itself as he can, he turns his attention to the chandelier, beginning to talk to it, too distant for the party to make out the specifics of his words.

Eustace’s turn

Eustace coughs in the smoke, grimaces, and follows after Scratch.

Inside the nest, the fire still burns.

fire damage (2d6) results: 1, 4 total: 5

Shoggoths’ turn The nest is now actively spewing smoke into the tunnels. From now on, anyone in the tunnels has to make a vigor check.

With the barricade done, the shoggoths put all of their attention on smothering the fire and staunching the bleeding of the room’s heart. Round 2/3 until the shoggoths put out the fire

Ellie’s turn

vigor check: [6 💥 5 = 11, 6 💥 5 = 11]+2 Result: Success with 2 raises! 🎯🎯🎯

Ellie puts her mask on and (if she succeeds her vigor check) will help pull the others out of the smoky tunnel with her bonus limbs.

Morgana's double will send a bird or two slipping through into the room as they retreat, continuing her work as the team's living radio.

Alric puts on his mask and does his vigor check.

Vigor check: [6 💥 2 = 8, 2]+2 Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

He takes a deep breath, takes off the mask for a moment, and speaks out loud. "Vesper, can you airbend the smoke back into the room?"

He'll stay where he is, a few steps behind Phoenix. He'll cover everyone else's retreat and only follow then.

Alric holds.

Hope will take Aim on the hiding shoggoths.

Please roll Vigor to withstand the smoke

Rolled: [4, 3] Result: Success! 🎯

Phoenix's turn

Phoenix glances behind herself at where Alric, Hope, and Vesper still stand. "Retreat!" She yells at them, backing up slowly. She slides her mask on, though she doesn't actually seem to need it.

Vesper's turn

[Sliding in here real quick.]

Alric takes his turn, starting to move backwards, retreating, keeping his flamethrower pointed in the direction of the shoggoths.

Vesper's turn

I retreat and use chromatic weave to keep the smoke contained in the room.

Rolled: [4 💥 2 = 6, 2] Result: Success! 🎯

Roll vigor for smoke inhalation

Rolled: [1, 3] Result: Failure ❌

Rolled: [3, 3]+2 Result: Success! 🎯

Vesper nearly forgets her mask in her eagerness to bend reality to her whims to bend the smoke out of the air, but it is hard to form the precise gestures and syllables needed to preform the rote while coughing. She puts on her mask and is able to execute the spell.

The hot smoke from the burning shoggoth nest is pressed back towards said nest, pulling a cool breeze from the tunnel entrance in the ruined manor basement. +2 to smoke inhalation vigor rolls while it lasts.

Round 3

Saint: King ♣︎
shoggoths: Queen ♥︎
Vesper: 10 ♥︎
Hope: 8 ♣︎
Phoenix: 6 ♥︎```

Saint’s turn

Saint does his best to pull in his own spin on Phoenix's method of talking to the chandelier, voice even and encouraging as he tries to pull the attention of the chandelier. "Can you hear me? It's going to be alright. We're here to get you out."

He's keeping most of his weight on the cord itself, hand locked in place as he gingerly taps the part of the chandelier that was probably a shoulder at some point. "If you can hear me, I need you to focus on the shape and idea of your body-" He starts working into some of the guiding that Phoenix had been doing, trying to nudge the chandelier into taking on a more human shape again.

Damien, the gargoyle-like man has just covered the body in a more-real-than-real layer of Protective stone, and is now attempting to give you a guided meditation in a deep smooth baritone.

What do you do?

REDACTED

Shoggoth’s turn

Below the chandelier, the little creatures scuttle about fighting the fire. The fire takes most of them, and chars great portions of the walls and floor too.

fire damage (2d6) results: 6, 3 total: 9

The fire backlighting the hasty clot blocking the door fades, though from being extinguished or from being obscured by the smoke Vesper had pushed back into the hive—it’s hard to tell from the outside.

Vesper’s turn

resist smoke: [2, 3]+2 Result: Success! 🎯

I maintain the air barrier and retreat with the group.

Hope's turn

Killing more shoggoths: [5, 3] Result: Success! 🎯

undefined (2d6 + 1) results: 5, 2 total: 8

With the difficulties of medium cover -6 and dim light dimmed further by the smoke -4, Hope can’t tell if her first shot hit anything.

Hope will follow the retreating party!

Phoenix’s turn

Phoenix backs down the tunnel, guarding the rear as everyone retreats.

End of initiative order

In the nest, the last charred teacup shoggoth limps around the still smoking remnants of the fire, attempting to answer the many chemical alarms the nest is broadcasting. The wound in the heart is slowly clotting over, and the nest’s systems are pressuring the chandelier to rearrange the space to twist the breach closed because the muscles of the door are paralyzed open.

Saint breathes in, slowly, calibrating, and then picks back up in a conversational tone. "Considering the other four people who were here weren't here willingly, we thought you were in the same position. Is this body that I am in contact with your real body? We need to disconnect the body I am currently touching from the hive, and we do not want you to get hurt in the process. Can you help with that?"

He pauses. "You can call me Saint. What would you like me to call you?"

REDACTED

Damien, make a Fleshweaving roll for each action to 1) shape your body as you want, and 2) shape the nest as you want - with a -2 modifier.

Shape my body: [1, 5] Result: Success! 🎯

Shape the nest: [6, 6 💥 1 = 7]-2 Result: Success! 🎯

Damien is able to push through the nest's resistance and shape his body and the nest mostly to his liking. Without a mirror it is hard to tell if he got his new face arranged evenly. The nest doesn't like it though, and sends even more signals of pain to it's "captured" chandelier.

The entrance doesn't close at all though. Damien's attempt to warp the space to make the entrance unreachable somehow doesn't do anything to make the entrance any less open and accessible than the shoggoth's ineffectual attempt to seal the passageway. Warping the space even seems to loosen the scab the motiles made and make the door even more accessible, much to the wounded screaming anger of the nest. He is able to extend the cord he is suspended from and reach the still-steaming and blistered floor.

Damien will have to cut through the umbilical cord. The nest doesn't let "disconnecting" be a thing that its chandelier has the permissions to do.

There's One Shoggoth Left. Get The Drop On It.: [5, 3]+4 Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

1d8+(1d4)+6 (1d8 + 6) results: 3 total: 9

(1d8)+1d4(+6) (1d4) results: 4 total: 4

explosion (1d4) results: 3 total: 3

Total damage: 16, which is more than enough to shake and wound

Saint's boot impales the last fire-damaged shoggoth, squishing it like a toasted marshmallow.

"It's a nickname," Saint answers, jumping down to land boots-first on the last of the shoggoths in a splatter of ichor as Damien's body reshapes and begins to descend. He idly taps the heel of one boot on the floor to try and knock some of the mess off as he watches Damien descent.

When Damien tries to reshape the room and close the door Saint's shoulders twitch like a cat shaking off something stuck to their fur. He looks at the man with a puzzled expression. "Was that you? What are you trying to do to the door?"

I let my spell lapse and return to the chamber, taking in Damien. "You recovered fast."

REDACTED

"Happily," Saint says, moving to wrap one hand around the cord, unsheathing the claws of his other hand. "I assume you want it cut? Tell me when you're ready."

REDACTED

Like with the four rooms before, there is a shaking and a wave of pressure as the volumes of the interior of the nest and the exterior space the nest takes up equalize. The walls bloat and rupture like blobfish tissue and there's the slow rumbling of a gradual earthquake as the now-dead flesh pushes out at the dirt surrounding it.

It's advisable to leave if one doesn't want to get squished in the gradual re-arranging of space.

Saint moves to support him as he sees him start to collapse, offering him a hand - and a supporting shoulder, if he accepts the offer of assistance. He clearly wants to offer to carry Damien, but is watching his body language to try and determine the correct level of assistance to offer. "Come on, let's get out of here, there will be a chance to talk outside. You were the last chandelier, I'm pretty sure this place is about to permanently close up shop."

He looks up to Vesper. "Vesper, this is Damien. Damien, this is Vesper."

As the walls start to collapse, Saint begins to look like he's fighting the impulse to pick up both of the mortals in the room and run.

REDACTED

The chandelier is obviously destroyed by now. There's a fucking earthquake happening around Alric. And the tunnel he's in is a full-blown ~~wind-~~ smoke-tunnel due to the collapsing room pushing everything back out.

Yeah, shit's fucked.

Alric leaves.

Does he find the way outside with limited vision and a fucking earthquake around him?: [4, 1]+2 Result: Success! 🎯

On the way out he'll grab anyone he stumbles across and pulls / pushes them towards the exit.

I follow him out, the nest is clearly on its last legs.

The college kids are all all the way back in the manor basement. The Dawn Commissioners, Saint, and Damien all emerge from the tunnels.

Aspen brings up the rear, screwing a lid on a jar. “That was the last bit of warped space, I think all that is left for me is striking the set.”

The group meanders up the rubble-strewn stone stairs and up onto the torched grounds above.

what's in the jar?: [4, 6 💥 3 = 9] Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

It looks like a clumpy dark glittery powder.

Vesper might not have the context that Aspen has the title Lady Watercolor Map, but she still might intuit that the powder looks like paint pigment.

does it look like the paint was used anywhere nearby?: [3, 3] Result: Failure ❌

Well, it’s dry pigment, not mixed up into paint. Aspen was painting the walls of the tunnels earlier, but that was in thick eggshell plaster.

"Who are you?" I ask Damien. "What were you doing in the nest? Everyone else we found there was rather, uh, damaged, but you seem as healthy as ever."

Ah, she's alive. A big surprise, with her deciding just a few moments ago that climbing into a burning and collapsing room full of shoggoths is the thing to do.

At least it's a pleasant surprise.

He looks around the room. "Okay, seems like everyone got out. I'll wait a minute for things to settle and then I'm going back down and torch anything l-" His eyes fall on Damien, and he blinks a few times. "Yeah, I'm not going to ask." He shakes his head and continues. "I.. I'll torch any shoggoth biomass that's left. I'll be back in ten."

He does some maintenance work on his flamethrower for a minute, puts on his mask, then starts moving back into the rooms.

"Wait, is that really a good idea? Take Saint or Phoenix with you, at least. Even if there aren't any shoggoths left, the hive is clearly unstable."

Alric shrugs. "Sure, if either of them wants to."

Saint makes eye contact with Phoenix. "Phoenix, this is Damien, he was inside the hive doing research. Damien, this is Phoenix, the leader of the Dawn Commission. You should talk to her about getting settled and getting home."

He'll head over to join Alric. "I don't think it's a good or safe idea to go in, but if you're going to go in, I'll go with you. Can I have permission to grab you and run if things get too dangerous in there?"

Morgana's porcelain double is looking at the newcomer in confusion, leaning into Ellie as the last of her paper birds flutter past towards Morgana.

`Morgana's double is a young woman with short dark hair and skin of white porcelain that's decorated with blue artwork. She's wearing a poofy black dress and a delicate cardigan with embroidered songbirds. Next to her, with one dark tendril gently looped around her waist is Ellie, a tall, gangly teen with long red hair, and a brightly coloured sundress, sturdily crocheted rainbow cardigan underneath her borrowed Emerald Gambeson... She's also wearing very well-worn cowboy boots and has with a pair of bullwhips holstered at her hips.

Saint is a tall, well-built man in his twenties with black marble skin and close-cut black hair and the kind of build common in contact sports - broad shouldered and sturdy. He has a scattering of visible scars on his hands, face, and a larger scar on his neck that continues towards his shoulder, the full extent of the past damage hidden by his clothes. His clothes match the rest of his appearance - well-worn leather, home-forged armor layered overtop dark flannel, sturdy denim jeans and even sturdier boots. He has brass knuckles on his hands, which he had been about to put away before Alric turned his attention back towards the hive.`

Alric nods to Saint. "Sounds good. I permit you to do so. And if all that stuff looks too unstable from the inside, we can still abort."

He puts on his mask, then both he and Saint make their way back in.

The thing is, Kenneth summoned the shoggoths. He probably didn't learn the ritual by heart, then execute on it. No, he probably had a written reference while going through it. And the whole thing started in the basement. And there's a good chance that not everything in the basement got destroyed. The fire started above, and bricks and stone crumbled down.

There's a pretty good chance there's still a Necronomicon down there, or something similar. Possibly even first edition.

Alric plans to go through the (now pretty small) rooms, backwards, from the final to the first room, and a) scan each one for loot and b) torch the room. The later rooms are less important, and more unsafe, but he'll definitely check the basement, and probably the first room. The others, he'll leave be if they look too unstable.

BROKEN LINK cont

REDACTED

REDACTED

"PhD, huh?" He glances at Vesper, then looks back at Damien, then nods. "Sure. I'll see if I can find anything interesting."

"Flesh weaving, huh? I saw what you did in the nest — pretty impressive stuff. Does your magic work on the brain too, or does that not count as flesh?"

Damien would know that the brain is flesh, while the mind is not, though they are not entirely separate. He would know that extremely well, considering.

REDACTED

"Well, it's like analog versus digital, right? Even if a digital representation is technically lossy, you can encode it to any degree of precision, so in practice it ends up not being important." I shake my head. "But anyway, back to the brain thing. Are you saying that the mind doesn't actually run on the brain? That there's something else performing computation outside of the brain?"

REDACTED

The philosophy doesn't interest me. What I care about is the practical ramifications. "Have you ever tried using fleshweaving to make yourself smarter? For example, if you can remotely puppet a body, do you get to use its compute as well as your original?"

REDACTED

"You're trying to create stronger self-improvement magic?" At last, he's speaking my language. "Why is it so hard to maintain a change to the brain? Weaver's edits to my soul don't need to be maintained once they're done."

(Psst, Weaver, you feel an urge to sneeze. Someone must be talking about you right now.)

Weaver cocks his head. He's drawn closer to the nest since the group emerged, but has been... busy. He has a bone needle held between his teeth as his fingers busily reel conceptual thread onto spools, working to remove excess slack from the local weave as the lot's Space around the nest warps and shifts from the ongoing destruction of the nest.

He finishes pulling in slack, pocketing his last spool as he redirects from his original path towards Aspen, sauntering over to briefly check in on his Pontiff instead, pulling the needle from his teeth and threading it as he goes. It didn't feel like she was calling, but it's worth checking in when he's this close, isn't it?

Damien, the man approaching you is short and slim, another black-marble-skinned stranger, with black eyes, dark hair undercut. His pointed ears are decorated with silver earrings that complement the glittering starlight and shadows woven into his waistcoat. His wrists and forearms are twined with red strings that form an elaborate lattice before they curl around his fingers and fade out of sight. There is a pair of tailors shears sheathed at his belt.

REDACTED

Roll your choice of Academics or Occult. The answer will be flavored by the skill you choose to roll.

Occult roll to idenity: [8 💥 3 = 11, 1] Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

Who he is: either a gargoyle like maybe what the other one was, or a faerie, possibly something else entirely? A stone spirit, possibly. And he’s a bit too pretty to be a gargoyle. … Saint and this one look similar enough, size difference not withstanding… they are both definitely faeries or some other form of intelligent spirit.

As for what he is doing, it looked like he was reeling up some sort of line before walking this way. Part of a working? If he is in fact a faerie, then it might be an eduction; a distilled concept manifested as a symbolic object. How he would be doing it: faeries can reportedly just do that.

Weaver's smile is relaxed as he joins the two, blindly checking the needle in his hand is properly threaded and checking the length of thread he has to use, the rest of his attention zeroed in on Vesper until his attention is caught by the content - or at least the heavily academic word choice - of the discussion he's walked in on. His gaze refocuses on Damien like a cat that's spotted a bird through an open window and he stares, looking him over curiously.

He pulls an embroidered needle case from his pocket and tucks the needle into it. Aspen can wait a few minutes, right? He can't even see where Saint's gone off to right now.

Still, first priorities first. His gaze flicks back to Vesper. "All good? Having fun?"

He looks back to Damien after checking in with Vesper, his expression splitting into a very, very wide smile at Damien's greeting, showing off a mouthful of needlepoint teeth. "You may," he purrs, clearly delighted by the greeting.

"I have many names, but you may call me Weaver at the moment," he doesn't bow, inclining his head in greeting instead before continuing. "What name do you go by?"

Definitely a faerie.

REDACTED

"You may always inquire, but that doesn’t mean you'll get an answer," his tone is clearly playful, but his gears shift as he considers Damien's question more seriously and looks at Vesper. "An eduction is an Aspect that has been drawn out and concentrated. So."

He runs his fingers along the thread trailing from his needle, speaking with clear pride in his work and preening. "Yes, Damien, this is an eduction. It is a thread of Space, and I'm going to use it to tighten up the damage done to the local weave by the hive stretching things out of shape."

He holds the thread closer to Vesper than he does to Damien, giving her a better opportunity to examine it.

Vesper, it looks dark and glittery, similar to the pigment in the jar Aspen was holding earlier.

but what does it look like to weaversight?: [4 💥 4 💥 2 = 10, 1] Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

It’s Space! It’s specifically the extra Space that the last nest had within it before Damien left and collapsed the room back to the normal flat three dimensions.

REDACTED

Make a Focus roll to manipulate the Space thread. +2 because Damien *did* make the fibers from which this thread is spun.

A gentle touch.: [5, 6 💥 6 💥 2 = 14]+2 Result: Success with 3 raises! 🎯🎯🎯🎯

Damien, you extend a thought to brush against the thread and it responds just like the space within the shoggoth once responded. But more fully because there is no shoggoth mind serving as interface between you and this Space. You have complete control of the thread, can feel it coiled on the spool and drifting through the air. You can bend and sense the entire length of it as you wish. The thread of Space is tighter, more refined and compact and potent than the Space you dreamed up in the shoggoth. You can feel that there was an influence that refined it so and trace the stamp of that work back to its origin like a signed proof-of-work key, Weaver. He who spins and crafts and patches together that most complicated web that is people.

Weaver, the thread in your hands rightfully belongs to Damien, and you can feel the connection to the rest of his tapestry as he reclaims it. You can feel the tension on the line as he does so, and know that if he is skilled enough, he could use the thread that you had spun from his fibers to pull on you.

REDACTED

Damien reaches out with his mind touching the weave and it's connection to the thread. Pulling at it lightly.: [3, 6 💥 6 💥 3 = 15]+2 Result: Success with 3 raises! 🎯🎯🎯🎯

Spend a power point, you are expending Focus.

Weave and thread is not an idiom Damien usually works with, and pulling on things to figure out what they do may be a dangerous game. But you can’t find out if you never fuck around.

On one dimension, the tug brings to light that the thread doesn’t contain all the Space Damien dreamed up. There’s another large amount of it in possession of someone else and located, specially, five paces behind and to his left. Where a blond woman with black feathers braided in her hair is quietly snickering.

Weaver arches a brow, neatly pulling his needle free of the thread. "I don't need a mortal to help me weave Space back into order, especially not a dream mage, Damien,” a pause, deciding, “No offense meant. This is a work of stability. You're flexible, but that's not what this task requires.”

The thread is not part of an active weave, but it's a thread whose connections to other pieces and influences have not been cut loose. Pulling on the thread to realize the jar of pigment is also made of Space that he created in the hive is not a danger to Damien.

The pull on the little Weaver, on the other hand, is - past the way his attention goes sharp, the qualia of his assessment of Damien going from playful to calculating. Damien's pull on the connection is taken as an inquiry, and that inquiry is taken as an invitation, challenge, and request -

Spin The Wheel (contested spirit roll vs empathy spell): [1, 1]+4 Result: Critical Failure! 💀

One that Weaver eagerly accepts.

Thoughts race hard and fast, diamond gears, inevitable automatons of shining intense qualia, every emotion dialed up to inhuman scales. The human mind is a fragile meandering flutter of thought in comparison -

Weaver is a crashing wave, emotions writ in all caps and threatening to burst past the edges of his marble skin, a maelstrom of thought and emotion -

The ones closest to Damien are -

MERCURY-BRIGHT AND SHIFTING, CURIOSITY AND INTRIGUE, A FLARE OF INDIGNATION AND A KNIFE-SHARP SUSPICION WATCHING WATCHING WATCHING READY TO FIGHT, ATTRACTION (NOT TO THE BODY BUT TO THE MIND THE CLOSEST THING TO CLEAR WORDS OR THOUGHTS PUSHED RIGHT AT HIM, HUNGRY AND FLIRTATIOUS, LET ME HEAR YOUR PASSION IN YOUR WORDS TELL ME WHAT DRIVES YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR THESIS AND THEN TRANSLATE IT TO LAYMAN'S TERMS SO I CAN LISTEN AGAIN I MISS IT I MISS IT I MISS IT), AND UNDERNEATH IT ALL A SHARP-EDGED SCREAMING OF HOLD THEM TOGETHER HOLD THEM TOGETHER HOLD THEM TOGETHER YOU HAVE TO HOLD THEM TOGETHER HAVE TO SHOULDER THAT WEIGHT YOU MADE A PROMISE AND YOU CANNOT LET THEM SHATTER

Vesper, you have not yet blinked your weaversight away and with it you see a loop of thread extending up from Damien's weave, tracing along the Space thread, seeking out connections by touch and getting pulled into the vast whirling spindles of Weaver. As you watch, Damien's thread shows signs of straining and threatens to pull more of Damien’s threads in.

Weaver appears to be completely enthralled by this turn of events and simply gapes at Damien, ever-busy hands now unnaturally still and expression growing hungry.

I continue watching quietly, fascinated by what's happening. Is he going to get sucked in? What will happen to him if he does?

Damien, you have the initiative here. What do you want to do? First roll a Spirit check to withstand the Sidhe Lord's mind.

Conceptual Meatgrinder: [9, 2] Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

Twisting Memory: [2, 2] Result: Failure ❌

Benny: [4, 6 💥 4 = 10] Result: Success with 1 raise! 🎯🎯

Damien, you withstand the maelstrom of the Sidhe Lord's mind and craft a piece of art made of magic and memory to leave as a gift in exchange for the thread of yours Weaver spun.

In this act, you form a connection between the two of you. A bond that will persist even after you leave. The next time you dream, you will discover a new rope bridge leading off in the direction of Weaver.

-1 power point permanently. +1 thread of Space.

Describe the working you left for Weaver.

REDACTED

Spirit Roll: [4, 1] Result: Success! 🎯

Weaver's wide, hungry smile falters as he remembers that he's dealing with mortals, eyes going wide before he hurriedly pulls his shears and cuts the thread connecting Damien’s mind to his own, leaving Damien's mind on the outside again. He sheathes his shears and quickly steps into Damien's space, the thread of Space-Dreamed-By-Damien released entirely - payment accepted - as Weaver moves to catch him in case he falters in the wake of the disconnect, black eyes skimming over him in a quick damage evaluation.

Damien, roll Spirit

Rolled: [2, 3] Result: Failure ❌

Weaver catches Damien as he faints, which is less suave than it looks since Weaver's a good foot and a half shorter. He breathes out through his teeth in a relieved hiss before looking sheepishly over Damien's shoulder at Aspen and Phoenix. "... Uh. He's fine. He'll be back up in a few minutes."

"What did you do to him?"

"It looked like he was being pulled into you, and just as the connection was strengthening you cut it?"

Aspen is no longer snickering and instead looks extremely concerned. She takes a step forward, orange eyes hard and searching. "What was that?"

Phoenix is likewise Concerned! "He's still living, I see." she mutters.

Scratch, in the very back of the group is also very concerned! He scowls, and his messy hair evokes the idea of canine ears pinned back.

"Heeeeeee flirted back and knocked on my metaphysical door and asked to be let in? I just. You know. Forgot he was human for a second," Weaver looks flustered, a green blush underlying the black marble of his face. "Most humans wouldn't try to flirt back that way!"

He rallies, trying to regain his composure. "But. Yeah. He's fine, all in one piece. This isn't even his real body, it's a puppet he stuck his mind into. Don't know what the status is on the real one. So! Anyway. No brain damage or shoggoth bits that want to infect things in this one, clean bill of health."

That was them flirting? How fascinating.

notice - does he look any different now to weaversight?: [1, 2] Result: Failure ❌

Well, at least he doesn't seem any worse for it.

Vesper has, unfortunately blinked and lost the spell.

Aspen sighs. "Alright. If he is clear, we can move him out of here to be with the others? That was the last nest, and it is approaching midnight." She turns to Scratch and Eustace, the two Miskatonic freshmen boys. "Want me to walk you back to your dorm?"

Scratch continues to scowl. Eustace looks at his boyfriend and back to Aspen. "Uh, yes. I think we should go."

The three depart.

Morgana's double has been desummoned, but Morgana has come to join Ellie and is watching Scratch, tempted to talk to him but aware Aspen probably has it under control... and that if they need to escort the last person out, she and Ellie have to stay.

Weaver waits for Aspen to leave before looking at Phoenix. "...would you be able to ask if he has somewhere he needs to go when he wakes up in a few minutes?" Weaver tilts his head. "I should get my part of this wrapped up before the protections Aspen laid down fade. If you're willing to take him off my hands?"

"I can do that." She says. She inclines her head. "We should talk later."

Weaver offers Phoenix a quick nod as she takes Damien.

He looks at Vesper and smiles, extending his hand. "So, Vesper. It's been a long day. Do you want to help me close this whole thing out?"

"Ooh, that sounds interesting. What do I need to do?"

"We're both going to stitch up the loose space in the local weave," Weaver pulls another spool of Space thread from his pocket and grins, threading one of his needles as they walk. "You still have the needle I gave you, right? With this thread we can tighten the weave up to a more stable level and compensate for the dreamy space effects that the nest had on the local area. "

He'll thread her needle if she hands it to him, passing it back as he and wiggles his eyebrows. "This is going to a bigger job, but I can handle the scaling. Working together will speed the process up so we can all head home sooner rather than later."

He motions for her to follow him, picking their way to the center of the burned field, now pitted with sinkholes from the collapse of the shoggoth nests. Power travels down their bond to enhance her sight so she can see the threads while they work, as Weaver breathes out and lets his power unfurl over the area, leaning into the current flexibility of the lot to underline their working - it's a balancing act, but this is the kind of needle he's experienced at threading.

As Weaver's influence spreads Vesper can see the threadbare pattern of the local weave come into focus as he moves his needle like a conductor's baton across the battered ground, see where her help is needed, the places she could run her needle through to pull the weakened fabric of the world back together.

help strengthen the weakened fabric: [1, 1] Result: Critical Failure! 💀

The scale of the working is wide and expansive and Weaver's neat little stitches manage to cover feet at a time, an alien twisting of perspective that distracts and distracts and distracts, building on the day's fatigue to slow Vesper's fingers and make her fumble.

Weaver notices, a slow swing of his head to look down at her, and gives a fond sigh, patting her on the shoulder with a too-large hand and too-long fingers. “... maybe you should sit back, after all. It's late. This is a big working, and you haven’t even slept once since we contracted and gave you power. It’s ok to take it at less than breakneck pace.”

He tilts his head, fingers tapping lightly on her shoulder. “This isn't you not being enough. It's that I've asked too much of you too quickly.”

I stare at my useless, clumsy hands as Weaver says I should slow down. I know he means well, but I can't help but hear the echo of everyone else who tried to dissuade me over the years. My parents, my friends, the wizards at Arcanum. Inara.

The last name sends a wave of anxiety rushing through me. I twist away from Weaver's touch. "Okay. I should go sleep. I'll see you tomorrow."

Sleep. Yeah, right. That just gives Inara a chance to take over. She's been oddly absent these past hours, but it's only a matter of time before she comes back with a vengeance. Maybe there's a spell that'll let me stay up all night... wait, didn't Alric say something about that?

I head over to the nest entrance and wait for Alric to come back out. I spent nearly two decades as a mundane and then another three years trapped in the back. Weaver can lecture me all he wants but I'm not going to slow down. Not now, not ever. If fatigue and exhaustion cause problems, then that's something to be fixed, not accepted.

Weaver retrieves the thread of Space as Vesper turns to walk away, his attention and needle returning to the task at hand, even as he offers parting instructions. "There will be other opportunities for you to join me in greater workings, Vesper. Practice your stitching on a smaller scale. If you have no greater threads on hand mundane handsewing will help you grow the muscle memory to guide your hands in the future."

He dives into the working.

Saint and Alric start their climb out of the basement.

Chapter 2.15: Cleanup

"It's worse with Sidhe," Saint says as they walk, petting the wide-eyed, colourful creature curled in the crook of his elbow, and leans in to grin conspiratorially at Alric. "But, yeah, if you think mortal unspoken social rules are frustrating when you don't know which ones are in play, please consider: thousands of years of that. It's awful."

He shrugs "It's a skill, though, a soft skill. Buildable? I deal with it by just.. getting to know people? It opens doors in a lot of ways," he makes the pun as they exit, punctuating it by stomping his boot on the doorway once Alric is clear, letting the hive entrance collapse behind then.

"Alric." I offer him a weak smile. "Hey. I remember you saying you had a spell that made you not need sleep. A disk or something? Could you maybe use it on me? It's been a long day, and I'd rather not go to sleep just yet."

Alric won't lecture me on slowing down, right? He understands, doesn't he?

Okay, yeah, I like this one.

They arrive back on the ~~grass~~ ashen lot, and are greeted by Vesper.

"Vesper! Why.. are you here on your own? Is everything okay? And yeah, I might have something untested that we could try."

I glance over at Weaver. "Weaver asked me to help him fix the damage that the incursion did, but I messed up. It's fine. He's handling it." I chew my lip for a moment as I think. Untested, huh? "Is that the sort of untested where it might melt my brains, or the sort of untested where it might not work?"

(Phoenix and Hope are still in the general vicinity, though each are doing their own thing.

Weaver is over there being… demigodly and stitching the landscape.

Everyone else is gone.)

Alric laughs out loud. "It is the sort of untested that might melt your brain. But don't worry, we're going to start with me, I have experience. But let's move everything into the car first. Saint, you wanted to have the samples get checked?"

I help them load the car as I talk. "Wait, if it's that dangerous, maybe you shouldn't be testing it on yourself? I don't want your brain to melt either. Inara's library probably has a spell that'll do what I need; I was just hoping you could save me a few hours of research."

He sounds amused. "Alright, I'll stop being funny. Vesper, it's a lot to explain, but the spell Relief could melt someone's brain, if it goes out of control. That's why I've built it into a disc, rather than casting it directly from a diagram. If it goes nuts, it'll go nuts on the disc, not on us. But I still intend to have a spotter around. Phoenix, probably. I'll ask her in a moment."

He hands his backpack to Saint. "Only checking, alright? I don't want to regret doing the responsible thing here." He helps carrying supplies and other random junk back to the car, in particular making sure that his tome was still with the other supplies and is now safe and sound in the car.

Saint looks concerned at the prospect of brain-melting, but he doesn't interrupt.

"Mh-hm. I want to check the samples, I think it's important to see if they're safe... or safe enough when left on their own that no one's going to get infected with shoggoth-stuff, anyway," he agrees, taking the backpack before indicating the creature he took from the third room, brightly coloured as a bird of paradise but with the look of some kind of small primate with overlarge eyes and long-fingered paws. "This little guy is at the top of the list. I figure if it's safe, that's good information to know, right?"

"I'm probably heading out pretty soon after I do that - I promised my eldest that I'd come home when we were done here, and I think getting the samples checked is the last thing on the to-do list."

He'll look up to see Weaver has vanished from the horizon and perks up. "That's my cue."

He leaves to go talk to Weaver.

Alric nods. It is good to know. It's just not good enough to justify talking to Weaver himself.

He'll grab his Relief disc from the car, gestures for Vesper to follow, and walks up to Phoenix.

"Hi. Would you mind spotting for me while I try out the disc I built this morning? It's supposed to allow me to get a good night's rest without, you know, lying around unconscious for eight hours." He holds up his disc to show her.

what does it look like to weaversight?: [1, 5] Result: Success! 🎯

“Ok.” Phoenix replies. A slight bit of concern creasing her brow.

To Vesper, the disk appears to be a nest of threads, like a novice’s first attempt at crochet. There is, vaguely, a rough yarn of “Collect Rest”, a spool-like structure, and a toggle-like loop to pop collected string off the spool.

The spool is empty save for the smallest collected fibers of Rest.

Fascinating. Does that mean it works, not be getting rid of fatigue, but by adding Rest? But that doesn't make sense, if that was how it worked then the disk would be full of Rest, not almost empty...

I continue watching as Alric activates it.

"Cool. Well, here goes nothing."

Sure would be really funny if I were wrong about Phoenix, now, wouldn't it. It's hard to tell if previous Alric would've actually cast the spell given these circumstances. But this one will.

Alric reviews the disc for a moment, to bring up its meaning and its intent, then focus on wanting to have himself be more rested. Once he has that.. mental model in his mind's eye, he breaks the barrier to release the spell.

Vesper can see the sparse wisps of Rest dislodge from the devise and sink into Alric, felting in to reinforce some of the wear of the day.

Alric, you are now at 0 fatigue! You already were at 0 fatigue: you do not feel meaningfully different beyond your eyes being slightly less tired. Emotionally and mentally though, you still feel spent.

"Did it work?" I ask

What's wrong with the disc?: [8 💥 8 💥 7 = 23, 3] Result: Success with 4 raises! 🎯🎯🎯🎯🎯

Chapter 2.6: Experiments

For the Relief artifact, the book recommends to leave this one in the bedroom, open to the air and visible, to promote vitality and restfulness. You didn't follow the recipe. The book said to leave it in a place where it can collect restfulness, and you took it on a very restless adventure.

"Ah, bummer. Yeah, no, didn't work. I'm pretty sure it's because it only got a few hours of charging time before I collected it to come here. I'm sorry, but I don't think it'll work today."

I can't quite stop myself from slumping slightly. "I was afraid of that. The weave has space for a lot of Rest, but it only had a few wisps in it. How long did you let it charge for?"

"Three hours? I built the disc, tucked it in, went shopping, then went napalm shopping, and then grabbed it and all my other stuff. Mhm.. Maybe Sawyer could cast the spell on you? He does have experience with it. I'll have to talk to him anyways once I get my backpack back, so let's give that a try?"

Alric looks around to see where Saint and his backpack are.

Phoenix tilts her head. "Is the space you left it in restful? It may also be more helpful to put it in a place where rest is actively happening."

"I.. think it is? I put it on my bed, I was following the instructions in my tome. Oh or are you suggesting that I take a nap next to it? If I'm being stupid right now, bear with me, I had a long day."

"I think that napping in its vicinity will help." She confirms. "Also, I believe it would help if your room is used purely for resting and not doubling as, for example, a home office. It is possible to imbue a space with a singular energy through intentionality and habits."

When Alric looks up he can see that Saint and Chance are both trooping over in their direction, Chance drooping a bit and flicking a lighter with an sullen expression as he tries to light up a cigarette, heading past towards a battered looking pickup truck with Connecticut plates and unlocks the door, slouching in the driver's seat and blowing smoke out the window.

Saint, on the other hand, is smiling like someone who just won an argument, holding Alric's backpack out in offering, the little critter that's still on his shoulder peering down with interest. "All good. It might degrade over the course of the next few days, so keep that in mind for your experiments."

He lifts his chin at Phoenix, running through his mental checklist before he can go home, pulling chalk from his pocket and spinning it between his fingers. "Chance said you wanted to have a talk with him, so... he'll drive you back to Boston while I get back home to the kids."

This is also when Sawyer's reply finally arrives, a sudden barrage of text notifications to Alric's phone.

Sorry for the delay, had other fires to put out 😐 as a heads up, if you can, plz include context for questions like this if available/safe to send over text. Was your question mostly a hypothetical, or ??? so curses depends cursebreaking or mitigation is an area I study so it's doable when I'm not in the middle of things thanks for the updates, btw, I appreciate it how easy it is depends on the curse, the avenues I have available to gather information, symptoms, etc. I've been able to dig deep into some things that were pretty subtle, but that can take a lot of 1-on-1 over days, weeks, etc. Morgana & Ellie got home a few minutes ago & the latest readings we got in for Arkham a minute ago are looking fantastic compared to earlier today

Alric receives the backpack, and nods. "Sounds good, I appreciate it."

He reads the messages, then looks back up. "Alright, Vesper and I will run by Sawyer real quick and then I'll take her home. Just to make sure no one forgot her: Saije is already home? Also, Phoenix: Saint would be fine with showing up tomorrow morning, assuming that's when we.. want to put some time into figuring things out." He sighs. "Ah, fuck it, I'll just say it. Saint could make a deal with us to keep us both honest, and assuming that I actually want to stick around, I'd very much like to have a clear, honest talk with you. I hope we're on the same page here."

Phoenix nods. "Ms. Black left some hours ago. I would be amenable to Saint facilitating our discussion."

"Just let me know in the morning," Saint nods, then offers Hope and Vesper a friendly wave goodbye, heading for his truck and pulling the passenger side door open to reveal one of the wooded paths of Saintsholm and vanishing through the door, which closes behind him.

"Cool." Alric nods them goodbye. "See you guys in the morning." He turns around and starts walking towards Bright Books.

I walk next to him. "So. A lot's happened today."

Bright Books is a much friendlier hive of activity than the one in the Dyer Lot, buzzing with activity despite the late hour thanks to the arrival of the former chandeliers, warm light spilling out through the windows like a beacon among darkened storefronts. There are lots of unfamiliar faces wearing the store's logo milling around - but Alric and Vesper don't know enough of the staff to have many of those faces look familiar in the first place.

Sawyer is looking like he's long overdue tor a rest, too, the circles under his eyes dark and a massive thermos of coffee in his hands when Vesper and Alric arrive, but he breaks off from what he's doing to check in on them all the same, laughing a little manically when they ask about a refresh spell and leaning against the counter, explaining that he would but he is tapped out and due to pass out for at least a day or so, himself, and that Morgana is already asleep.

He offers to send them back with some of the leftover takeout and cups of his strongest coffee, if they're tired, but he's barely staying on his feet at this point. If Alric wants him to look at the ring he can, but not tonight.

Alric, Vesper, and Hope leave Arkham. It's the end of a very long day. Soon enough, all have found a place to safely rest--whether they would like to or not--and sleep.

And dream.

At last, the long Monday is over.

</scene>

The End of What Dies Dreaming

Take an Advance.
Refresh your Bennies.
Consider your Bonds and your Concept, update to reflect changes in your character.
Tomorrow is a new dawn.```