Runelords 09.1 - Reporting In

Eamon, Virgil, Khyrralien, Luna and Ilsa left the mayor's office, the noontime sun hanging overhead. With a quick farewell, Luna scampered off towards Quint's house once more, to ask him a question she had neglected earlier. Virgil glanced towards Eamon; both men had a fatigued sort of air, and their minds were clearly elsewhere. After a short pause, the devil said, "I can give my report when it suits you," quiet enough so that the other two didn't hear.
Eamon considered this statement, gave a nod, and replied, "Let's return to the inn."
Virgil gave a nod, then turned his attentions towards Ilsa, "If you want a room for a few nights, we're headed towards the inn. We know the owner; we can probably get you a deal."
"That would be great," she said, though she still had a hesitancy about her. The revelation that she was in the company of extraplanars was still weighing upon her, but she nonetheless took them up on their offer. They went to the Rusty Dragon; Virgil spoke to Ameiko while Eamon retired, getting Ilsa a room and explaining to the innkeeper the fate of her brother. It would have to be made public that Tsuto was captured, in order to placate the town of fear, so he figured it best to tell her personally before that point. Though the news of her brother was bittersweet, the fact that the goblins no longer threatened Sandpoint and that the woman behind the attacks was dead was heartening, and she was happy that they had not dealt with her erstwhile sibling as they had Nualia. She offered to throw them a party that evening, to celebrate the town's safety, which Virgil graciously accepted.
With that, Virgil walked down the hall towards the room he shared with the other four. Opening the door, he saw Eamon splayed across a bed, resting limply. Virgil considered this as he pulled up the wooden chair that sat by the room's single desk and sat down near the reclining angel. With a muted sort of smile, Virgil commented, "I don't think I've seen you lie down before. I've seen you position yourself horizontally, but this is a first."
It was a few moments before he murmured a reply. "Mmmh, doubtless you have not. You have also not seen me when my head is...it feels as if small creatures are using it as a drum, and are most enthusiastic about it. But never mind that." He gave a slight wave of his hand, removing his arm from across his face and looking over at the other man. "Feel free to begin whenever you wish."
Virgil regarded him for another few seconds, and with a small snort of humour, he got up and left. He returned promptly with a glass of water, which he placed nearby to the suffering angel. "Drink that." As the angel complied, he continued talking as he walked around and drew the curtains on the small windows that lit the room, darkening it considerably. "Not entirely certain it will help, what with your biology, but it's usually good for the locals. Then sleep it off. You'll feel fine again in a while." Returning to Eamon, he stood relatively formally as he asked, "I can give my report after you've recovered, if you would rather. We're in no rush." 
Eamon slowly shook his head, "No no, please, do go on now. I would prefer to have the information sooner rather than later." 
Tilting his head slightly in affirmation, Virgil reported, "You were desummoned at approximately 7 am this morning, Materian time, while defending our retreat. Luna reports that she witnessed your dismissal, before she immediately crossed the bridge and destroyed it behind her. There were no other hostiles on our path of escape; I escorted Luna, Ilsa, the captive, and the wounded horse immediately towards Sandpoint. We were not followed outside of Thistletop Woods, and did not engage in any further combat. There were no civilian casualties or injuries, beyond what had been incurred under your direct supervision. Regrettably, we did sustain a loss of equipment, notably: two chain shirts, a longsword and a longbow that were town property; the amounts of currency that were being carried by yourself and Khyrralien; and your greatsword. 
"It took roughly one and a half hours to return to town. The captive and the body of the enemy commander were disguised with illusions so as to not disturb the public. The horse was immediately remitted to the town stables for medical attention and care; these have been paid for, though further decisions are required regarding its future, namely, whether it is to be sold, kept as a resource, or kept as a personal amusement. 
"At this point, I was required to make the decision regarding our cover. Ilsa, having not personally witnessed either your's or Khyrralien's dismissal, was lead to believe that you had perished. I did not refute that assumption. However, she was promised compensation from the mayor, and there would be no way of dissuading her from accompanying us to that debriefing. Therefore, since it was assured that your absence would be questioned, it would have to be explained as death in combat to avoid further suspicion. This would make it impossible to resummon you and have you continue to disguise yourselves in a similar fashion; you would require new identities, and Khyrralien's physiology, at the least, would make this an extremely difficult and unlikely-to-succeed task. Disregarding the option of completing the mission solo, I decided that the least damaging solution was to reveal our natures to Ilsa, on the understanding that she keep the information in confidence. For my part, I revealed to her no information regarding Pandemonium or our relation to each other; she is under the impression that we are unrelated summons, called by Mr. Quint to fulfill his desires and nothing more. I do not know if or in what manner she spoke to you while I was collecting attire, but from my interactions with her she appeared unsettled by the knowledge that we are not from this plane, but unlikely to take any actions against us." Virgil pursed his lips, and seemed to have a slight difficulty in speaking as he stated, "I accept that this action was a breach of protocol, but I acted in what manner I saw best for the mission at the time, and I will accept whatever reprimand you feel necessary." 
Returning to his earlier fluid speech, he finished, "Having made that decision, we proceeded to Mr. Quint's house. He prioritized the perusal of Luna's collected notes and evidence higher than your summoning. Roughly two hours elapsed between our arrival and the completion of the ritual, marking your arrival as roughly 11 am, Materian time, and total time absent less than 5 hours." With that, he stood silently, waiting to be questioned for details. 
"...Well, it's nice to know that Mr.Quint has his priorities figured out," Eamon said dryly after a moment, "It's a shame they don't align better with ours. I would not have minded a bit more haste on his part." Closing his eyes for a few moments, he briefly considered what Virgil had told him before saying, "I must extend you my thanks for your conduct in mine and Khyrralien's absence; you handled the situation commendably. That is not to say that I expected any less of you, but I wish to make my appreciation known. It is good to have such capable, reliable teammates." Rubbing at the bridge of his nose, he paused, then continued with a sigh, "In regard to the revelation of our status relative to Materia, there will be no reprimand. Clearly the situation could not be resolved cleanly, and in light of this, the explanation given to the woman, Ilsa, was acceptable. I believe your reasoning on the matter to be sound and your actions prudent. Do you happen to know if the woman, Ilsa, chanced to speak to anyone else on the matter?" 
"She was talking to Luna earlier before she spoke to me, but unless either you or Khyrralien have spoken to her, she doesn't have any context regarding Pandemonium to have given her. She didn't engage with Mr. Quint, to my knowledge, and I don't think she will bring up the matter with anyone else. Speaking of Mr. Quint's priorities, though, Luna did mention something to me when we stepped out to obtain clothes. Something that, until she mentioned it, I hadn't considered." He rolled his eyes slightly and continued dryly, "At this point, we have all been resummoned, and the objectives of our current contracts do not align with those of our mission from Pandemonium. We are now contractually obligated to stay on Materia to obtain artifacts for Mr. Quint, in my case, and to escort him safely to archeological sites, in your's and Khyrralien's. Thanks to our oblique acceptance of the contracts without defining set terms, we have essentially locked ourselves on Materia until Mr. Quint declares our contract void, we're forcibly banished, or until he dies." 
Turning to look at Virgil, Eamon frowned slightly. "Hmm, that was foolish of us, wasn't it? And to think, not one of us clued into it before now." He snorted softly and gave a noncommittal shrug, "No matter, we seem to have no problem at getting ourselves forcibly banished as it stands. And from my understanding, Materians tend to keep life on their plane brief, and he appears a good way through his. So, worse comes to worse, there's always that. It is inconvenient, but I am not terribly concerned. We shall all simply have to be more careful in the future. At any rate, we must stay here until the church is in fact properly christened: perhaps his little quests may prove a pleasant diversion." 
"As long as command doesn't wonder why it took us twenty years to open a church." Virgil made a shrugging expression, "Though I suppose the discrepancy was there as soon as we were on Materia for more than twenty-four hours. In for a penny, in for a pound." 
"All it would need is some clever wording and there will be no problem," Eamon dismissed. "As it were, we have accomplished much that will please Pandemonium when we return, and our delay was legitimate." He shrugged once more, "This here, I am not concerned about." 
"Well, that's that, then." He snorted slightly and sank into the chair, folding his arms and looking away, his formal affect abandoned. He paused for a minute, looking to consider something with no great enthusiasm before eventually saying, "...If you're in the mood for a diversion, I've got one for you." 
Eamon raised his head slightly, quirking a questioning eyebrow. "...Well, I wouldn't say I particularly am in the mood for much more than laying here at the moment, however, you have piqued my interest. Do go on." 
"It's not something that can be done right this moment, as much as I'd like to. Oooh, would I love nothing more than to fix it right now," he said with a harsh sarcasm, "but, that's not how it is." He snorted, "I have to find another runewell. Quickly. I'm sure it could count towards our contract to Quint, but would also require leaving Sandpoint." He rubbed his nose, still looking away, an agitation hanging about him as he added quickly, "If that's outside the bounds of the mission, fine. I'll take leave when we return, and find one on my own time." 
The angel regarded him considerably for a few beats. "May I request that you explain further, if you would? Why is it that you would seek another of these wells, and why in such haste?" 
Virgil made a throaty grumbling noise, obviously loathe to elaborate. His gaze moved about the floor, and he sulked for a few seconds before explaining, "Something's been off for a few days, but I didn't figure it out what it was until yesterday. I guess it was falling into the runewell last week; I got shoved in when we were fighting the quasit and its golems, when you were running off with Quint. Since then, I haven't been feeding on pride. I'm aligned to wrath." He groused as he tugged at his jacket and scraped the floor with his shoe, fidgeting irritably, "It has to be the well. Nothing just changes affinities. So I need to find another one." His voice dropped and he tapped his foot a few more times before he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, muttering, "I'm not staying like this," lighting the smoke with a simple gesture. 
Eamon stared at him for a long moment, frowning deeply. "Falling into the well...changed your vice alignment? That is highly alarming. I cannot think of anything else that would do something like that..." He shook his head slightly and lay back once more, his expression both disturbed and thoughtful. It was some time before he spoke again. "...I'd imagine it is going to be a challenge, locating a runewell of pride. I'm not sure where we will even start. With Quint, I would suppose; he appears to be the nearest authority on such things." He rubbed absently at his chin as he spoke. 
"Doesn't need to be pride. I don't even care. Anything but wrath," he said darkly. He waved it away, continuing, "Like, I'd like to find a pride one, yes, that's ideal. But short term? Literally anything else." He took a drag, and said, "I asked...ok, no, I yelled at Quint to find one, because apparently pitching fits is what I'm doing now. So he knows to be looking. Whether he feels like it's a priority or not is another thing entirely." 
"Well, that should make the search a bit easier, what with having a broader scope. Shall I broach the topic again with Mr. Quint later? Or Luna, perhaps? He does seem to like her. A less forceful approach may help him prioritize properly. He strikes me as the type to resist on principle if approached in a way that he dislikes." 
The other man fidgeted still, agitated. "...Yeah, whatever. Sounds good. Whatever finds one faster." He tapped his foot and focused on his cigarette, staring into the middle distance pointedly before suddenly snapping back and changing the topic, "So, what were you doing to show up naked with a hangover and an ambiance figment, anyways?" 
The angel stared seriously at the ceiling for a long while before answering, his tone frank, "I was sampling the array of interesting delivery menus inhabiting your and Khyrralien's abode, to put it plainly. Today was to be devoted to geckos, pizza, and perhaps some sort of mind altering chemical, but I hadn't quite made up my mind on that before the summons came in. I unfortunately found myself waiting a rather long time for it, somewhere around the two year mark I believe. Without anything to do, boredom began to weigh rather heavily. Luckily however, I discovered the extensive selection of diversions conveniently deliverable to your door." 
Virgil ceased in his fidgeting and turned his attentions fully towards the angel, staring at him thoughtfully for a while. "You...spent two years sitting in the ghetto? Why? I mean, I can't sit there for days, let alone years; you must have been going insane. Why didn't you go somewhere? Or...do, something?" 
"Well, that would have brought questions, you see, and that would not have been of any benefit to any of us. I didn't expect quite so long of a wait, but once I had committed to it there really wasn't much else I could do but lay low and wait. And so I did. As for the doing something, as I said, your delivery menus proved helpful in providing at least the illusion that I was occupied, which in turn helped to mitigate the insanity. It was alright; educational, if nothing else." 
With a shrug, Virgil replied, "I didn't know Pandemonium watched all of heaven...but, I guess they're guarding the gate?" Eamon nodded, prompting Virgil to shrug again. "Still...there's nothing we've ever ordered there that wasn't mindless entertainment, and I can't see you appreciating rampant hedonism quite like Khyr. You couldn't think of a hobby or anything? Learn a language? Learn an instrument? ...Embroidery? Or did you really just get drunk for two years?" 
"Hobbies...they have never been my strong suit. I suppose I just followed the example had witnessed most closely. At any rate, no, I did not get drunk for two years. That would have been boring. Rather I mixed it up a fair bit. As I said, it was educational if nothing else." 
Virgil considered this deeply for a moment, taking a long drag of his cigarette before replying, "...Three questions. Want them in ascending or descending order of importance?" 
"...Ascending." 
The other man grinned, "Did you enjoy sex?" 
"I did not actually get around to partaking. I observed much, mind you. I wouldn't say it was...enjoyable, per se, but plenty interesting. The diversity of flavours that can be applied to the activity are truly astonishing, I must say." 
The reply made Virgil blink a few times before he chuckled, "Seriously? I think a full third of those numbers in there were prostitutes, and you never actually did anything?" 
"Now now, we did plenty. Yahtzee, scrabble, karaoke, ping-pong...all sorts of things. It was actually very pleasant, many of them were lovely company." Eamon answered off-handly in all seriousness. 
He chuckled again, pausing to take a drag, "We have got to get you laid. This is just silly now. Anyway, second question, bit more serious. What, exactly, were you taking? Because, you know a lot of those drugs, especially the calibre of things Khyr likes, are habit-forming, right? You think the hangover is bad, you are going to be really unhappy if you go into withdrawl for something." He looked thoughtful, "Especially if it's something we can't get here." 
"Hmm...I don't rightly remember all of them. There was such a variety and such a long amount of time, and I kept it mixed." He thought for a moment before naming off a rather extensive list of substances that he thought he may have taken over the course of his stay, with occasional commentary on ones he found particularly enjoyable or unfortunate. 
Virgil listened with a passive expression at the truly expansive list of mind-altering substances the angel had sampled. When he finished, he paused for another second before saying, "...Well! You could be addicted to basically anything at this point. Let me know if you start feeling strange, alright? Sick, or anxious, or...anything really. Then we'll deal with that if it comes up. If we're lucky, you're fine; addictions in the outer planes are fickle, and maybe you dodged the arrow." He sat back and looked thoughtful, staring into the middle distance as he smoked. 
Eventually, Eamon broke the silence, "What is the third question you mentioned?" 
"Hmmn," Virgil muttered, taking another drag before replying, "Why were you laying low? Why were you in the ghetto, avoiding Pandemonium? I don't get why you were hiding in the first place." 
Pursing his lips, the angel remained silent for a long while, frowning at the ceiling seriously. Eventually he answered, his voice low, "This mission is our mission. It was supposed to be a simple in-and-out exercise, barely worth calling a mission. However, it has turned into something more legitimate, and I...I just have a feeling, I suppose, that there may be more to come. We have done well so far, very well considering the handicap placed upon us by the way we were summoned, as well as the unexpected turns of events, and I very dearly wish to see it through to completion." He paused, tapping his fingers together slightly for a moment before continuing, "Had I reported back to command upon my desummoning and subsequent return to Pandemonium, our mission would have come under review. In light of the way it has progressed into something more than we were originally intended to take on, the chances of all of us being recalled and removed from the mission would have been high to say the least, particularly due to the composition of our team." A slight hard note entered his voice, "This is not something I find at all agreeable. We are in no way incapable or unqualified to see this through, and I would not have the opportunity taken from us. Therefore, I chose to forgo reporting to command altogether." 
Virgil listened quietly through this, and by the time Eamon finished, he was grinning. He made a few soft chuckling noises, "Eamon, Eamon, Eamon; you're on Materia for a few days and you start ignoring protocol? What's next?" He finished the cigarette and tossed it into the ashtray, "Good thing I asked; if I was banished for any length of time, I might have gone back and reported in, then we'd all have egg on our faces, wouldn't we?" He leaned back, "Careful, though; you haven't been here before, and you have to know that things here don't tend to end. Of course there's more to come. There are hundreds of goblins around, passively threatening the people of Sandpoint. There's the cult that Nualia apparently joined, working out of the city, possibly making more monsters and summoning more devils. Magelords and their sin artifacts, causing evil wherever they're buried; does digging them up and neutralizing them have anything to do with the mission? Do any of those things have anything to do with keeping the church building safe? Everything is connected here, and nothing will ever really end. That's the danger of Materian missions. More than keeping a low profile, or being weakened by low-level summoners. It's getting caught up in a never-ending sea of changes and events. Hell and Heaven are discrete: battles start and stop without ever impacting anything elsewhere. Doesn't work like that here. And command might not care at all what we do, if it's not related to the mission." He grinned slightly, "You're taking a risk, breaking protocol on the hopes that they define our work with favour." 
"I know I am, but I feel it is a risk within the bounds of reason. It will be a year before the church can be opened and the mission completed anyway. Even if we simply remain here quietly for that length of time and do nothing else, we will have seen our mission to completion and that will satisfy me, and I am reasonably certain command as well. If they do not know I was desummoned in the first place, and I believe that to be the case, then that will be exactly what we would be expected to do. If we happen to accomplish more in that time, well, so much the better. I am confident it can be made to work to our advantage. At any rate, thank you for your council, I do truly appreciate it, greatly." After a moment, he added more quietly, "I was going to tell you all of this, had you not questioned me first, by the by. I would not leave you in the dark about a choice that has potential to affect you as well; that would be unfair." 
"Well, I just wouldn't want to have not known, screwed it up for everyone and made myself look like an idiot in the process," he said, leaning back, "but it sounds like that was an on-the-fly decision, so whatever. You're right; either they give us bonus marks for doing extra work in the time we have, or they don't and just give us a complete. We're successful either way." He grinned over towards the prostrate angel, "You don't tell command that I outed us to an adventurer, I won't tell them that you weren't filing reports properly, and we both get passing grades." 
Glancing over, Eamon returned his smile, "I do believe that to be a fair deal, I can agree to this." 
Virgil gave a snort of laughter, grinning more broadly now. He made to stand up, putting his hands on his knees as he pushed himself up, "Well, I'll let you get some sleep. Gotta make sure you're fit for our party this evening." He paused, looking thoughtfully at the floor for a second, before he snorted again and added, "You know, it's only going to get worse. For the plane of law, Materia likes to make messes of plans more than anywhere in the outer planes. These won't be the last violations, and they might not be the worst." He looked up towards Eamon, a small grin still playing on his lips, "How are you going to feel about more broken rules?" 
"Well...I suppose we shall have to see when the time comes. However, if today has been any indication..." he paused for a beat before grinning slightly himself, "perhaps more lenient than we had previously assumed. We shall see." 
Virgil grinned and made a gesture somewhere between a wave and a salute. "Drink water, get some sleep, and I'll see you at the party." With that, Virgil left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. 
Category:Rise of the Runelords